Kurkijoki

Kurkijoki lies on the northern shore of Lake Ladoga, between Käkisalmi and Sortavala, in an old Karelian settlement area. The peace of Nöteborg in 1323 placed the district within Novgorod's sphere and that of the Orthodox Church. Kurkijoki became the centre of a large parish, whose territory reached far beyond the lakeshore into neighbouring districts. At the turn of the seventeenth century the parish was divided into smaller units as wars disturbed the borderlands between Sweden and Russia.