Description of the attraction
Behind the village of Chuinavolok, which is located in the Karelian Republic of the Pryazhinsky District in a sacred spruce grove, there is the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Elijah the Prophet. The approximate age of the church dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The chapel is reliably hidden by numerous trees and can only be seen from the southern side of the lake. At the moment, the chapel carries the functions of a monument of republican significance.
The chapel has a relatively large size and is made in the form of a parallelepiped. The roof covering is steep, gable, topped with a cupola. On the side of the western part of the roof, a nine-column bell tower rises on an octagonal base, which is completely covered with an eight-pitched roof. The end of the tent is made in the form of a dome with a cross, located on the axial column of the bell tower, at a distance of one meter above the top of the tent roof. In addition, on the west side of the chapel, there is a porch with an upper rectangular platform, to the center of which a single-flight staircase leads from the lower underground platform. The porch cover is a gable roof supported by pillars. The division of the inner space was carried out by a transverse cut into the eastern half, which consists of two prayer rooms separated by a longitudinal cut, as well as the western half, intended for the refectory room. The side-altars are equipped with an independent exit directly from the refectory and are interconnected by a door. A staircase leads to the bell tower from their refectory room.
The chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Elijah the Prophet is a wooden building, chopped down with fellings. A slab roof is made of two layers of the road timber. The slabs are made of plates along the beams. The porch is designed as an accessory. The widened upper platform of the porch is formed on consoles along the carved base of the stairs. The inner walls of the chapel are neatly and smoothly hewn with a peculiar rounding of the corners. The ceilings have a flat shape and are made "closed" along the beams.
As for the overall appearance of the chapel, the outside is completely sheathed with planks with vertical sheathing blades at all corners of the building. The windows are decorated in the form of platbands made of smooth-planed boards. Roof berths form a contour cut. The pillars of the belfry are made in the form of a square section, and the fences are cut from a bar with a handrail. The cover of the heads is triangular with a scaly share. The porch platform, located on top, has a herringbone-shaped fence made of bogs, as well as pillars with cutting, made in the form of double counter jugs, decorated with intermediate elements. Wing clearances have contour and through threads.
The chapel was built in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Elijah the Prophet, and therefore from the inside is divided by a plank partition into two zones with independent entrances from the vestibule. The plank cladding of the outer walls was made in the 19th century. Unfortunately, the interior of the chapel is missing.
In 1998, the chapel was subject to restoration, which was carried out by Karelian craftsmen with the participation of experienced specialists from Norway.
