Unexploded wartime shell found beneath Hanko orthodox church

An unexploded wartime artillery shell has been discovered beneath the floor of the Orthodox church in Hanko, southern Finland, Yle reports. The shell is believed to have ended up in the building’s subfloor during the Soviet withdrawal from the city in 1941.

The shell was found during clearance work on organic waste in the church’s subfloor. Emergency services and police were notified, and the building was placed out of use.

“The police classified the matter as confidential until the shell could be successfully removed from the subfloor,” church caretaker Tuuli Santakari said in a statement.

A sapper unit from the Jaeger Regiment removed the shell and searched the subfloor for any additional unexploded ordnance.

According to the Orthodox parish of Helsinki, the shell most likely entered the subfloor at the end of the war, when the Soviet Union withdrew from Hanko in 1941. Soviet forces had mined the church during their occupation. After the war, mines and shells were removed from the building before it was returned to use, the parish said.

A church with a long history

The Hanko church is one of the oldest church buildings belonging to the Orthodox Parish of Helsinki and celebrated its 130th anniversary last year. According to the parish, its construction was linked to the survival of Finland’s Grand Duke Alexander III in a train accident in 1888.

The church was originally built to serve Russian spa visitors from Saint Petersburg and Russian merchants who had settled in Hanko.

During the war, the building was not used for religious purposes. When Finland was forced to lease Hanko to the Soviet Union under the 1940 interim peace treaty, the town was evacuated and the church’s contents were moved to Helsinki. Soviet forces used the building as a cultural centre.

When Soviet troops evacuated the Hanko base in December 1941, they mined and carried out extensive demolitions across the town. The church, formally known as the Church of the Holy Apostle-Equal Mary Magdalene and Vladimir of Kiev, was reconsecrated in 1958.