Two military cemeteries are located in the municipality of Ilomantsi, one in the parish village and the other in the settlement of Kivilahti on Lake Koitere 40 kilometres away.

The parish village cemetery was established by the local Civil Guard in 1918 as the resting place of twenty soldiers killed in the Civil War in 1918. Their names are engraved in the pedestal of the fallen heroes’ memorial designed by the renowned Finnish sculptor Ilmari Wirkkala.

The cemetery lay dormant for decades until it was reopened at the beginning of the Winter War in 1939. The final resting places of soldiers killed in the Winter (1939 to 1940) and Continuation (1941 to 1944) Wars are marked by 390 stone slabs, of which one is blank, and three bear an inscription “unknown.”

The cemetery is located on hallowed ground inaugurated more than 100 years previously. The church of the Orthodox congregation of Ilomantsi stood on the very same location in the 19th century. It was replaced by the present church, which was completed 450 metres north of the cemetery in 1892 and is Finland’s largest wooden Orthodox church. The church is dedicated to prophet Saint Elijah.

The church of the Evangelical Lutheran congregation stands 300 metres to the south of the military cemetery. It is known as the Church of a Hundred Angels for the plentiful wall paintings depicting angels. Churches played an important role in wartime. People came to churches to pray for fighting men, their loved ones and the homeland, and to find hope for a better postwar future.

The cemetery at Kivilahti holds the remains of 29 men killed in action during the Continuation War of 1941 to 1944.