MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Most wooden churches and chapels in Russia’s north, 72% and 54% accordingly, have fallen into a state of disrepair and are in need of conservation, the press service of a project bringing together volunteers reviving wooden churches said on Monday, summing up the results of more than 150 expeditions.
All in all, the Obshchee Delo (Common Cause) project has organized more than 150 expeditions in the past nine years, in which volunteers examined 320 churches and chapels in the northern Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions and in Karelia.
Anti-wreck and conservation work has been done on 112 facilities. Services have been held at some of the churches for the first time in many years.
According to the press service, monuments of ancient architecture that have not seen conservation work will be lost forever in the coming decades.
The Common Cause project was launched in 2006. Volunteers clear churches of garbage, do anti-wreck and conservation work, place icons and invite clergymen for church services. Some local residents join this work, and after the volunteers leave, they continue taking care of holy shrines.