Kolkja Museum of Old Believers, Peipsiääre, Estonia

The Russian Old-Believers (starovery) have kept their religious rituals unchanged for more than 1000 years. Today, there are 11 starover congregations with approximately 15 000 members in Estonia. A museum situated in Kolkja village on the coast of Lake Peipsi displays traditional clothes, crafts, tools, household items, and religious items of the Old-Believers.

Reference: Kolkja Museum of Old Believers

Museums in Estonia

User Reviews

kukusik2002 (2 years ago)
Совершенно неожиданное место, в котором собрано ТАК много свидетельств старины, да еще русских староверов. Удивительные вещи, которые кажутся такими простыми и от этого необычными и необходимыми в хозяйстве. Многое становится понятным, даже для совсем маленьких посетителей.

Margus Rebane (2 years ago)
Really interesting to learn the history of old beliefs

J G (2 years ago)
This is an authentic old time real life of the Okd Believers and why they came to survive in Kolkja. It is a lot about persecution by the Russians as their adaptation of orthodox religion is a mixed between Russian orthodox and Greek Orthodox Also beautiful traditional clothes are exhibited as well as agricultural tools, workers clothing, kitchen and rooms as bedrooms are well displayed with incredible furnitures Recommended

Rosalie Johnson (2 years ago)
Definitely a place to visit to learn about a small but significant group of people who are proud of their history

Aleksei Pashenkov (3 years ago)
The only Old Believers museum in Tartu region

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Dan Lundberg

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Hagios Demetrios

The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios, is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988.

The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Repeatedly gutted by fires, the church eventually was reconstructed as a five-aisled basilica in 629–634. This was the surviving form of the church much as it is today. The most important shrine in the city, it was probably larger than the local cathedral. The historic location of the latter is now unknown.

The church had an unusual shrine called the ciborium, a hexagonal, roofed structure at one side of the nave. It was made of or covered with silver. The structure had doors and inside was a couch or bed. Unusually, it did not hold any physical relics of the saint. The ciborium seems to have been a symbolic tomb. It was rebuilt at least once.

The basilica is famous for six extant mosaic panels, dated to the period between the latest reconstruction and the inauguration of the Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730. These mosaics depict St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (called the founders, ktetors) and with children. An inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan Slavic raid in 615.

Thessaloniki became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1430. About 60 years later, during the reign of Bayezid II, the church was converted into a mosque, known as the Kasımiye Camii after the local Ottoman mayor, Cezeri Kasım Pasha. The symbolic tomb however was kept open for Christian veneration. Other magnificent mosaics, recorded as covering the church interior, were lost either during the four centuries when it functioned as a mosque (1493–1912) or in the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 that destroyed much of the city. It also destroyed the roof and upper walls of the church. Black-and-white photographs and good watercolour versions give an idea of the early Byzantine craftsmanship lost during the fire.

Following the Great Fire of 1917, it took decades to restore the church. Tombstones from the city"s Jewish cemetery - destroyed by the Greek and Nazi German authorities - were used as building materials in these restoration efforts in the 1940s. Archeological excavations conducted in the 1930s and 1940s revealed interesting artifacts that may be seen in a museum situated inside the church"s crypt. The excavations also uncovered the ruins of a Roman bath, where St. Demetrius was said to have been held prisoner and executed. A Roman well was also discovered. Scholars believe this is where soldiers dropped the body of St. Demetrius after his execution. After restoration, the church was reconsecrated in 1949.

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