Munsala stone church and vicarage

Munsalan kirkonmäki Uusikaarlepyy

 

David Ölander worked as master mason for the Munsala stone church. A well-known church builder, Thomas Rijf, was in charge of the carpentry work. A professor of the Royal Academy of Turku, Henrik Gabriel Porthan, described the new church as suitable to serve as a cathedral because of its large size as well as its beauty. The decorative pulpit was ordered from Ahlnäs.

 

The church yard features a stone fence built in the 1830s. North of the church hill, there is a parish granary from 1832. The graveyard houses a bell-tower built in Ostrobothnian style under the guidance of Matti Hakala.

 

A vicarage from the late 1700s is located near the church. In its courtyard, you can find a former farmworkers’ cottage as well as a wagon and storage building. During the Finnish War (from 1808 to 1809), the commander-in-chief of the Finnish Army, Wilhelm Klingspor, stayed in the vicarage, leaving behind a weapon chest.