Restoration of Historic Church Altar Finally Complete

On November 17 the Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord in Tallinn will hold a ceremony to mark the completion, after more than a decade, of restoration work on its elaborate altar, which was a gift by Peter the Great in the early 18th century.

Specifically, the restoration work was carried out on the church's iconostasis, the wall of icons at the back of the altar that separates the nave from the church's sanctuary.

Installed in 1719, the multi-tiered iconostasis was created under the supervision of Ivan Zarudny, whose work includes the altar of the Peter-Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Three centuries of damage caused by dry air, insects and repainting, however, had left it in critical condition.

Restoration of the iconostasis began in 2000, helped along by more than 12,800 euros from the Tallinn city government.

Originally part of the Cistercian St Michael's Abbey, the Transfiguration Church had been a Swedish garrison church before becoming an Orthodox church at the beginning of the 18th century when Russia defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War. Abram Petrovich Gannibal, great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, was married here in 1736.

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