Valaam is the largest and finest island of the lake Ladoga.

In the X-th century the first monks - Sergiy and German came to Valaam “from the orient lands”. Their works and prayers initiated the name of Transfiguration of Christ, one of the most principial cloisters of today’s Russia.

The monastery’s history includes many falls and rises which have taken place during ten centuries. When Soviet power was established in Karelia in 1940 the Valaam monastery was closed, From december 1939 to february 1940 the community, all to the monk evacuated with church values to Finland where they founded the New Valaam monastery (Papinniemi). A military base was erected on the island. Half a century later, in 1989 monastery life returned to the island.