Torgare vicarage
Torgarevägen 22 Kruunupyy
The name of the Torgare vicarage comes from the farm of Anders Torgare, which was attached to the residence in the mid-1600s. The construction of the present main building was led by Master Builder Hans Riska during the term of Vicar Henric Aulin in the late 1790s. In 1819, the building was covered with board cladding and painted with falu red, and in the 1850s it was extended. In the course of its history, the building has naturally been repaired and remodelled several times. The cellar is from the 1600s.
The buildings and courtyard area of this vicarage reflect the farming culture of their time. Already in the 1730s, Torgare had a henhouse, which was a rarity in Ostrobothnia in those days. New farming methods and tools were used at the vicarage, setting an example for local peasants. The vicarage also presented new domestic animal breeds and carried out animal breeding. The courtyard area still features a farm workers’ cottage, a mangle cottage and a stone byre, all from the 1840s, which represent Vicar Anders Gustaf Kihlman’s reformist time at the vicarage.
Various important figures lived in the vicarage or visited it. Henrik Gabriel Porthan (1739–1804), the father of Finnish history writing, spent ten childhood years here at his uncle’s, Vicar Gustaf Juslenius. Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finland’s national poet, occasionally visited the vicarage in the first years of the 1820s.
The last dweller of Torgare was Vicar Gustaf Stenbäck, who moved from the old vicarage building to a new priest’s residence in 1960. Thereafter, the vicarage building served as a boarding house and provided premises for small-scale industry, until the Torgare Foundation began using the buildings and the courtyard area for museum activities in 1979.
The Kruunupyy church with its surroundings and the Torgare vicarage form a well-preserved cultural heritage area. The courtyard area also features an agricultural museum and a school museum. A wide variety of cultural events are organised at the vicarage.
Stories
Vicar Henric Aulin lived his last years as a solitary widower. His daughter had married a peasant, which could arouse condemnation in the contemporary class society. Father Aulin is said to have given his blessing to the marriage only on his deathbed. (Nils Storå: Torgare prästgård i Kronoby)
Johan Ludvig Runeberg visited the vicarage with his former classmates in the early 1820s. According to folk memory, Runeberg especially enjoyed the company of Vicar Fredrik Juvelius’ daughter Fredrika, often strolling with her on the nearby "lovers’ path" that led to a pond. Their relationship ended, but they kept in touch throughout their lives. In her later days, Fredrika published the poem collection Bleka Blommor (1870) – as far as is known, with financial support from Runeberg. (Nils Storå: Torgare prästgård i Kronoby)
Photos
Torgare vicarage
Farm worker´s cottage
A cat in front of the agricultural museum
Torgare vicarage a long time ago (Ostrobothnian Museum / in Suomalaiset pappilat)
