Priozersk, town

Subject / Topography/Cities
Subject / Ethnic culture//
PRIOZERSK (Korela; Kexholm until 1948; Finnish Käkisalmi,) town, adm. center of Priozersk District. Population: 19,300. From 1310, the center of Russian possessions in Karelia. It belonged to Sweden in 1580-95 and in 1611-1710. It became territory of Russia, first as part of St. Petersburg Gubernia, and then, in 1744, as part of Vyborg Gubernia (from 1811, in the Great Principality of Finland, and from 1918, in independent Finland.) In 1940, it went to the USSR (in the Karelo-Finnish SSR until 1944.) The town originates from Novgorod’s fortress Korela (Kexholm in Swedish sources) founded in 1310 in the place of an ancient settlement on the Vuoksa River. In the Middle Ages, one of the largest towns of the North-West. In the mid-16th century, over 3,000 people lived in it, there were five cloisters in the town, and four parochial churches. In 1809, the fortress lost its defensive value, and Kexholm became and ordinary uyezd town. In 1897, a resort with hydropathic and mud bath treatment was established in Kalliosaari Island (Skalisty Island, currently the town park.). The town was a center of Eastern Finnish culture. A folk music festival, first in the Karelian Isthmus, was held there in 1880. In 1894, an ethnographic exposition was opened in the Round Tower of the Korela Fortress (see “Korela” fortress museum; Korela, fortress.) At the break of the 19th – 20th cc., T. Schwindt did archeological digging there. Composer E. G. Melartin, organist and conductor A. Neuvonen (1874–1941), and sculptor A. Kaasinen (1892–1970) lived and worked there. Within today’s town lines, there was the estate of J. Ampiala, a cultural center of Finnish creative intellectuals in 1900-36 (in 2001, the estate was recognized as a monument of landscape art and wooden architecture.) In 1910, a monument to Peter I was installed in the town square (sculptor Werbel; lost in 1918, restored in 1972, sculptor V. E. Gorevoi.) P. has a culture center with the Folk Drama Theater (since 1959), Lesnaya Skazka Russian folk music ensemble (since 1972), and other companies. There are the Karnaval culture center and Priozersk Central Library. P. has two Orthodox churches, Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, and All Saints’ Church (1894, arch. I. Arenberg.) The stone building of a Lutheran Church (1929-30, arch. A. Lindgren) has survived, which is now occupied by the Youth Leisure Center. In 1996, a monument at the burial place of 105 Finnish military killed in 1941-44 (arch. K. Kokko) was opened in the church garden. The “Krasnaya Zvezda” newspaper and the “Vuoksa” local history anthology are published in P., and the Radio Priozersk station broadcasts. Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Ampiala, Ukho
Arenberg, Johann Jacob
Gorevoy, Vladimir Emilyevich
Kaasinen, Albin
Kokko, Kauko
Lindgrem, Armas
Lindgrem, Armas
Melartin, Erkki Gustav
Neuvonen, Anton
Schwindt, Theodor
Verbel
Neighbouring Territories/Finland
Historical Toponyms/Karelian Finland SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic)
Topographical landmarks/Karelian Isthmus, the
Leningrad Oblast, the/Priozersk District/Priozersk Town
Historical Toponyms/Saint Petersburg Gubernia, the
Topographical landmarks/Skalisty Peninsula, the
Topographical landmarks/Vuoksa River, the
Historical Toponyms/Vyborg Gubernia
Historical Toponyms/Grand Principality of Finland/Vyborg Province
Дмитриев А.П., Лихой А.И. Приозерская земля: История и культура. СПб. – Приозерск, 2004.
Громов В.И., Потемкин Л.П., Шаскольский И.П. Приозерск. Л., 1976
Ampiala, a country estate
"Carnival", city culture centre
Finnish military, monuments to
Finnish military, monuments to
"Korela", a museum-fortress
Korela, fortress, the
"Krasnaya zvezda" ("The Red Star"), a newspaper
Peter I, monument to; (Priozersk Town)
Priozersk House of Culture
Priozersk Youth Leisure Centre
"Skalisty ostrov" ("Rocky Island"), a park (the town of Priozersk)
The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God (Priozersk Town)
"Vuoksa", a Priozersk local history anthology