A winter day at the Valaam Monastery may seem the same as all the rest, but compared to the unhurried life filled with daily duties led by the monks, these winter days are not boring at all. For centuries the Valaam Monastery has preserved the traditions of Russian monasticism and has served and continues to serve as a religious lighthouse that every year attracts thousands of people to the far-off islands in Lake Ladoga. Over its long history, monks have been forced to leave the monastery multiple times, but time after time they have returned and monastic life at Valaam continued. This is what happened at the end of the 20-th century during the fall of the Soviet Union. Nowadays the Valaam Monastery is once again known as one of Russia’s spiritual centres.