The annals of Valaam 1886 -1939

Cathedral 1896.

1886-1887

Two stone wharves were arranged and built for steamers in the main bay of the monastery. In the war of 1939-40 the wharves suffered badly and all wooden structures were burnt to the ground.

1887

The old monastery cathedral built in 1794 was broken-up and disassembled. Construction of a new one, vastly more magnificent, was started as its replacement; the building, and the interior finishing was completed in 1892.

1892, 26th of June

The lower monastery cathedral in the name of Saints Sergiy and Herman the Valaam Miracle-Makers was consecrated.

1893, 14th of June

The lateral side-altar of the lower church in the name of the Annunciation of The Mother of God was consecrated.

1896, 19th of June

The upper cathedral church in the name of Lord's Transfiguration was consecrated.

1899, 18th of July

A stone church in the name of Saint Sergiy the Valaam Miracle-Maker was consecrated in the Sergiy skete.

1899, 27th of July

A stone church in the name of the Tikhvin Icon of The Mother of God was consecrated on the Tikhvin Island. In the war of 1939-40 that church was bombed. Additionally all wooden buildings in the skete - the brotherhood's house with all its extensions, as well as houses for Finnish fishermen, were burnt to the ground.

1900, 8th of July

A stone chapel in the name of the Saints Konstantin and Helena Equal to Apostles was consecrated on the Herman Field on Valaam.

1901, 18th and 21st of October

A church of the Valaam town-house with two side-altars was consecrated in the city of Moscow. In 1925 the building of that town-house was confiscated by the government of the USSR and all the monastery brotherhood was dispersed, further destiny of many of them remaining unknown.

1903

A stone church in the name of Saint Herman the Valaam Miracle-Maker was consecrated in the Herman skete.

The Resurrection church 1906.

1906, 30th of July and 29th of October

Consecration of two churches took place: the upper and the lower in the stone church of the Resurrection skete.

1908

The upper storey was built for a new hospital of the outside monastery building. In the war of 1939-40 the rooms of the new hospital, pharmacy, reception room, as well as some rooms and wards for patients were burnt out.

1911

The wooden church of the Gethsemane skeet and the wooden chapel on the Mount of Olives were consecrated.

1914

From that year, because of the commencing of World War I and because over 600 inhabitants of the monastery were called up for military service, reduction of the monastery brotherhood started - sketes were gradually closed. Two sketes remained unclosed and only partially inhabited: the skete of All Saints and the skete of John the Baptist.

The church of Smolensk icon of Our Lady in Smolensk skete 1917.

1917, 24th of June

Consecration of the stone church in the name of the Smolensk Icon of God's Mother in Smolensk skete in prayer to the memory of Orthodox Christian soldiers killed during World War I.

1921

Strong lowering of the level in Lake Ladoga.

1924

Extraordinary rise in the water level in Lake Ladoga, on the brink of a calamity. The difference of the Ladoga water level between 1921 and 1924 was 9.5 feet - this is how much the level of water of 1921 rose in 1924.

1939, 1st and 14th of January

The noon of that day saw the 80th anniversary of the continuous observation by the monastery over the water level in Lake Ladoga. The following remarkable coincidence took place then: the recorded levels on the 1st date of observation on Valaam, January 1st 1859, coincided literally with another such observation conducted exacltly 80 years later under the same atmospheric conditions, that being the 1st of January 1939. Such an extraordinary and rare phenomenon in the history of water-gauging observation on Valaam induces us first of all to praise and thank Our Lord ruling over the seas of the Universe for His All-Mighty help in the cause of scientific observation. In connection with this, the Finnish Institute of Oceanography wrote to Valaam in its Letter # 477 dated 12th January 1939: "Our greetings to the Valaam monastery on the occasion of the valuable work of observation that has been done for many a year. The 80-year continuous series of observations is a great scientific achievement, especially because they were always conducted with great care."

1939, 4th and 17th of October

The Ladoga water horizon lowered to the utmost limit point of monastery's observations: 0.00 mm.

The large bell of the main church. In war 1939 - 1940 the bell had broken.

1939, 20th of November through the 3rd of December

The start of aircraft bombing strikes on the Island of Valaam.

1939, 7th through the 20th of December

Due to the fact that life on Island of Valaam became dangerous, upon the order of the military commandant, evacuation of the monastery brotherhood from the Island of Valaam to the depth of Finland started. On that day the first group of the monastery inhabitants departed.