Melnikovo, settlement

Subject / Topography/Villages
Subject / Ethnic culture//
MELNIKOVO (Finnish Räisälä before 1948), a settlement in Priozersk District. Population: 2100. Located on the banks of the northern branch of the Vuoksa River. In 1948, the settlement was renamed first Otradnoye, and then Melnikovo, in memory of "soldier S. A. Melnikov who died a hero” (his person has not been reliably identified.) Apart from Räisälä , M. included over 20 neighboring localities. Archeological diggings in M. (Kalmistomäki Hill) discovered remnants of a Bronze epoch settlement (1500–500 BC, asbestos ceramics), and a medieval burial mound. Archeologist and geographer T. Schwindt was born in the Putoria estate (area of current M.) The settlement has a Lutheran church (1912; arch. I. D. Stenbeck), with a culture house accommodated in its building. Services are also offered there for Finns, former residents of Räisälä, who arrive from Finland. In 2002, a wooden Orthodox church was sanctified in the name of the Holy Trinity. The settlement has a library.
Ref.:

A. Y. Chistyakov Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Schwindt, Theodor
Stenbek, Iosif Daniel
Leningrad Oblast, the/Priozersk District
Topographical landmarks/Vuoksa River, the
Граница и люди: воспоминания переселенцев Приладожской Карелии и Карельского перешейка. СПб., 2005.
Melnikovo Rural Library, the
Melnikovskoye House of Culture
Putoria, a country estate
The Church of the Holy Trinity (Melnikovo Village, Priozersk District)