Finnish Orthodox Church Museum Riisa

During the Second World War Finland was engaged in two wars against the Soviet Union, referred to by the Finns as the Winter War (1939 to 40) and the Continuation War (1941 to 44), as a result of which the country was forced to cede about 12% of its total land area to its neighbour and re-house some 430 000 refugees who had lost their homes in those territories. This figure included the vast majority of the country’s Orthodox population at that time.

This situation also meant that the Finnish Orthodox Church, as recognised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1923, lost 90% of its property, including four monastic institutions, numerous churches and chapels, large areas of land and a vast number of valuable objects designed for church use. On the other hand, considerable quantities of icons, sacramental vessels and furnishings, and also rare books, were successfully evacuated, and it is these that form the nucleus of the Riisa collection as we know it today.

The new permanent exhibition at Riisa, opened in February 2026, tells of the history of the three monasteries and one convent that were left behind in the ceded areas and records details of the war years and the evacuation process through the medium of personal recollections and photographs. It also provides visitors of all persuasions with an insight into the Orthodox religion and its culture and into the history of Orthodoxy in Finland. It has vast numbers of icons, church textiles, sacramental objects and rare books from the monasteries dating back as far as the 16th century.  

The museum also has spaces for seasonal exhibitions, mainly of contemporary art linked to the Orthodoxy.