A valuable icon that was stolen from Helsinki’s Uspenski Cathedral, the city's biggest Orthodox church, in June of last year was recovered on Tuesday.
Police got on the trail of the icon when a man who was imprisoned for the theft came forward with information on where it was hidden.
Police say that the man had suffered pangs of conscience. The priceless work of Orthodox ecclesiastical art was found in a forest hideaway in Turku.
Police did not find pieces of jewellery that had been placed around the icon by parishioners.
The metallic cover on the icon had been torn off, and the decorative objects on it were also missing.
The icon will be sent to the Valamo Monastery in Heinävesi for restoration before it is brought back to the cathedral.
The man is serving a two-and-a-half year sentence for the theft.
