From September 5 to 6, 2016, preliminary work was conducted on the Church of the Savior of All-Merciful in Kalgalaksha as part of the "White Sea" expedition in the Kem district of Karelia.

The Church of the Savior of All-Merciful, built in 1844, served as a cathedral for local parishes and had a permanent priest. The church was closed no later than the 1930s. Originally, the church was a rectangular building, including the altar part of the main log structure and a longer, narrower log structure of the refectory attached to it, with a bell tower above the porch. After the revolution, the church was transformed into a club, for which the dome and bell tower were removed, the roof structure was likely altered, the porch was demolished, and a new entrance was added. Until 2012, the building housed the administration of the collective farm. While the church functioned as a club, many interior elements, such as carved doors, wooden columns, and the staircase to the bell tower, remained untouched. However, when the collective farm administration moved into the church building, it was significantly altered internally, and a toilet was added to the western side, where the porch used to be.

Currently, the church is a rectangular structure consisting of the main and refectory log buildings, with an extension on the western wall and a porch on the southern wall. The walls of the building are clad in boards and painted blue. The hipped roof is covered with slate. The main room of the church, the quadrangle, has seven large glazed rectangular windows: two windows on the northern and southern walls of the main log structure, one window on the northern and southern walls of the refectory, and one window in the end of the altar part. Under the roof ridges, two small unglazed windows are cut out on each end. Inside, the space is divided into offices, the walls are whitewashed, and there are three stoves for heating.

At the time of the expedition, the church was in a significantly altered state. Although the log structure was preserved in decent condition, radical changes to its external and internal appearance turned it into an ordinary wooden building, no longer resembling a church. Additionally, many windows were broken, and the porch and toilet extension had become a local dump for garbage.