Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, Kotka, Finland

The Orthodox Church of Kotka, known also as St. Nicolas church, was built between 1799-1801 under the Russian order. It was designed in accordance with drawings by Jakov Perrin, architect of the St Petersburg Admiralty. The orthodox church is probably the oldest building in Kotka and one of the rare to survive a British bombardment of the town in 1855.

The church was built in Russian Neo-classicism style. Differing from a typical orthodox church in Finland, there are lot of sculptures inside the St. Nicholas Church.

User Reviews

Lalayan Vladimiros (2 years ago)
Церковь Святого Николая - самое старое здание Котки. В последние годы порядком поизветшала. Наконец-то занялись реставрацией.

Timo Keveri (2 years ago)
Kotkan vanhin kirkko ja tutustumisen arvoinen paikka, jos ei taas joudu ilkivallan ja varkauden kohteeksi.

Ioanna Keicer (2 years ago)
Были зимой, все закрыто и внутрь не попали. Внешне симпатично.

Sanna (3 years ago)
Kaunis kirkko, viihtyisä ympäristö, kesällä erityisesti.

Elizabeth Toney (4 years ago)
Beautiful inside and out. I attended a service there as well, it was my first time seeing a Russian orthodox one. It was very moving and located in a nice park.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Frans.Sellies

Historic Site of the week

Kromeriz Castle and Gardens

Kroměříž stands on the site of an earlier ford across the River Morava. The gardens and castle of Kroměříž are an exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a European Baroque princely residence and its gardens and described as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first residence on the site was founded by bishop Stanislas Thurzo in 1497. The building was in a Late Gothic style, with a modicum of Renaissance detail. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was sacked by the Swedish army (1643).

It was not until 1664 that a bishop from the powerful Liechtenstein family charged architect Filiberto Lucchese with renovating the palace in a Baroque style. The chief monument of Lucchese's work in Kroměříž is the Pleasure Garden in front of the castle. Upon Lucchese's death in 1666, Giovanni Pietro Tencalla completed his work on the formal garden and had the palace rebuilt in a style reminiscent of the Turinese school to which he belonged.

After the castle was gutted by a major fire in March 1752, Bishop Hamilton commissioned two leading imperial artists, Franz Anton Maulbertsch and Josef Stern, arrived at the residence in order to decorate the halls of the palace with their works. In addition to their paintings, the palace still houses an art collection, generally considered the second finest in the country, which includes Titian's last mythological painting, The Flaying of Marsyas. The largest part of the collection was acquired by Bishop Karel in Cologne in 1673. The palace also contains an outstanding musical archive and a library of 33,000 volumes.

UNESCO lists the palace and garden among the World Heritage Sites. As the nomination dossier explains, 'the castle is a good but not outstanding example of a type of aristocratic or princely residence that has survived widely in Europe. The Pleasure Garden, by contrast, is a very rare and largely intact example of a Baroque garden'. Apart from the formal parterres there is also a less formal nineteenth-century English garden, which sustained damage during floods in 1997.

Interiors of the palace were extensively used by Miloš Forman as a stand-in for Vienna's Hofburg Imperial Palace during filming of Amadeus (1984), based on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who actually never visited Kroměříž. The main audience chamber was also used in the film Immortal Beloved (1994), in the piano concerto scene.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

Looks like you are a history fan!

Do you know an ancient castle or hidden ruins near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory. It's absolutely free, easy, and you can do it even without registration (of course you an also create an free account)!

Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

The Beauty of Cinque Terre

Must-See Historic Places in Córdoba

Best of Middle Rhine Valley, Germany

Historic Site of the week

Kromeriz Castle and Gardens

Looks like you are a history fan!

Do you know an ancient castle or hidden ruins near you?