During the quiet period, visitors are welcome to stay in the monastery, but the restaurant, for example, is closed. Most of the employees will be furloughed for the quiet period.
In Valamo monastery, it has been decided to implement a period of quieter activity from the beginning of the year, when some services will be closed. The period starts on January 9 and lasts for two months.
The monastery still welcomes visitors even during the quiet period, but the restaurant services are closed during that time. Self-service kitchens are available to guests. The library, museum and exhibitions will also close their doors for two months. The church, the sales service, and the souvenir and wine shop continue to serve visitors in January–February.
– In the longer term, this is not a very healthy situation financially, that winter eats more than can be earned in summer. However, operations should be able to run as if under their own weight, without always having to find some extra money somewhere, thinks archimandrite Mikael.
During the quiet period, the vast majority of employees are laid off and there are no workers during that period. In addition to the brotherhood, the activities of the monastery, which are open for two months, are run by three employees. From March onwards, all of Valamo’s functions will serve tourists normally again.
The aim is to reduce dependence on tourism
Archmandriitta Mikael says that the monastery wants to develop new sources of income that could reduce dependence on tourism.
– It by no means means that there is an effort to slow down tourism or reduce the number of visitors here, because a visit to Valamo is important for many people and it is important that the monastery is open to visitors, the monastery’s director states.
Beverage production has been one of the monastery’s sources of income for twenty years. Archimandrite Mikael hopes that it will also become more prominent in the future. He thinks that in addition to beverage production, in the future income could also come from, for example, other products that could be made in the monastery from local raw materials.