Plaani St. Nicholas Church is an impressive 19th-century Historicist Orthodox church located in Plaani village in Võrumaa. Built of red brick and fieldstone, the church features a Greek cross floorplan, a bell tower, a roof turret, and four onion-domed towers, making it a distinctive cultural and architectural landmark. Situated in the heart of the Haanja uplands, the church is surrounded by peaceful natural landscapes and traditional village life.
The church became an important spiritual centre for the region, and by 1925 the congregation had nearly 500 members. During the Soviet era, however, the Haanja–Plaani parish was closed, and the building was handed over to the local collective farm for use as a storage facility. After the restoration of Estonia’s independence, plans were made to establish a monastery in Plaani, but the project was left unfinished due to lack of suitable monastic candidates.
Today, the church can be viewed from the outside, and during the summer season it is open to visitors during events. Every year on June 24, the traditional Plaani scythe-mowing competition takes place outside the church, bringing together both locals and visitors.
