Big Vicarage was built in 1843 as the residence and work premises of the vicar of the Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Ilomantsi.

The location commands an unobstructed 360-degree view. Therefore, Big Vicarage proved an ideal location for an observation post during the Finnish-Soviet Winter and Continuation Wars. A platform complete with guardrails was erected on the rooftop for the purpose.

Most observers were members of Lotta Svärd Association, a women’s volunteer auxiliary service that was disbanded at the request of the Allied Control Commission in the fall of 1944.

They worked year-round 24 hours a day in two-hour shifts. During cold winter nights when biting winds blew, they froze to the bone although the rooftop platform was not that far above ground level.

The observers’ essential equipment included a notepad, an aircraft recognition chart, a sighting instrument, binoculars, and a telephone. They reported immediately every aircraft sighting by telephone to the area air surveillance centre located at Joensuu Town Hall.

On Christmas Day 1939, enemy aircraft bombed Ilomantsi parish village, causing most damage on the present-day Kauppatie street. An unexploded Russian incendiary bomb was unearthed only 200 metres from Big Vicarage during underground cable laying work in the mid-2010s.

Big Vicarage is in private use and not accessible to the public.