Visualisation of Churches, Chapels and Monasteries in Carelia, Republic of Carelia
Chairman of Evakko Säätiö Foundation, protoprespyter, father Elias Huurinainen
Personally and on behalf of our Foundation I would like to tell how pleased and delighted we are of the funding received from the European Union for the realisation of our 3D-Bridge - Transferring on Cultural Heritage with New Technology- project. And especially pleased I am to meet all of you, the representatives of our partner organisations, here in Jyväskylä. I trust that our project and cooperation will be of great success.
One could say that I am representing the aspect of the eastern cultural heritage on this particular project. Considering that, I would like to begin with a short introduction to our background. Finland is clearly divided in to two cultural areas. This divide has become obvious already in the 9th century. On that distinct historical era the awareness of Carelia arose. This makes the Carelian culture already 1200 years old! The Christianity came to Finland and to Carelia approximately 900 years ago. At that time the orthodox religion became a part of Carelianismi. Our Foundation represents the Carelian-Orthodox culture in Finland. We stand for the eastern culture.
Carelia is divided into three geographical and cultural areas. One of these is the area of lake Laatokka. This specific area was a part of the independent Finnish nation-state from the year 1917 until the Second World War. On Treaty of Paris 1947 Carelian area was conceded to Soviet Union. Our research concentrates on this particular conceded area of lake Laatokka. Concretely we are doing our research work in Carelian-Orthodox cultural Centrum called Evakkokeskus, which we established in Iisalmi on 1989.
Our research subjects are the Carelian churches, chapels and monasteries. Approximately ten years ago we were considering how to preserve the churches, chapels and monasteries which were located in Carelia and today are destroyed. The helping hand was the new form of technology. On 1997 our first project combining the new technology and Carelian cultural heritage was launched. There were twofold reasons for us of doing this.
Firstly we came to the conclusion that the technology has advanced in such way that it now could serve promoting our cultural ends. We realised, that with 3D-modelling the destroyed Carelian churches would become alive again. About 95 percent of the Carelian churches were destroyed during and after the Second World War. This has got a great impact on our identity.
Secondly, our interest lies as well on promoting the tourist industry. So far Iisalmi has not been a great tourist attraction. We have been predecessor on this context as well. In recent years we have had some 35.000 visitors in our Cultural Centrum. The Carelian churches and 3D-modelling has become of great interest. With this project we wish to be a part of developing the chances of new technology on promoting the culture and tourism in Finland and in Iisalmi.
