Genius loci - The spirit of place in historical Central Ostrobothnia - Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius
Welcome to the Vicarage route
The old vicarages and their courtyard areas that have survived to this day feature centuries of history in their material and immaterial cultural heritage. We will now explore Ostrobothnian vicarages, whose main buildings are from the 1700s or the very beginning of the 1800s. Over the course of time, the main buildings have naturally been altered, repaired and restored. In their courtyard areas, you can also see other well-preserved and well-kept buildings and cultural heritage destinations.
You can explore the vicarage route in any direction, both virtually and in person. The route from Pietarsaari via Kruunupyy and Kokkola to Lohtaja mainly follows the old Bothnian Coast Road. If you want to turn off to the more modern coastal road, the so-called seven-bridge road, it will lead you to the archipelago municipality of Luoto and its beautiful wooden church as well as the Marieholm vicarage, both from the late 1700s. This road, built towards the end of the 1800s, with its waterways and bridges is probably similar to the Bothnian Coast Road a couple of hundred years ago when the sea level was two metres higher than today.
All five vicarages and their surroundings are attractive cultural and historical destinations, genuinely worth seeing and experiencing. The services offered by these vicarages vary, so please find out the situation at each of them in advance. Along the route, you can find other interesting destinations as well.
Join us on the vicarage cultural route!
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Introduction
Already in the late Middle Ages, peasants were in charge of building ‘seven rooms’ in vicarages. This was later interpreted as seven separate buildings: a main building, a baking house, a barn, a granary for corn and another for food, a two-storey granary, and a cowhouse. New vicarages were usually built in the same place where the former ones had been, so their age-old masonry cellars could still be used. Vicarages were usually constructed close to waterways for easy transport connections.
The logs for the buildings were felled from the forests of the vicarage or of farmers. Parishioners were responsible for the construction and maintenance of the buildings. The yield of the vicarage farm was part of the priest’s salary, but a considerable share of his earnings consisted of natural products such as corn provided by the parishioners, their work in the vicarage fields, and the fees for different services such as weddings and burials. It was only in the first decades of the 1900s that monetary wages were gradually adopted instead of benefits in kind. However, the main building of the vicarage continued to be used by the priest and his family as a residence.
Citizens’ attitudes towards the tax duties associated with vicarages were not always positive. Throughout the centuries, peasants have rebelled and attempted to neglect their duties. The privileges and sometimes relatively extravagant lifestyle of the clergy were also criticised by the younger-generation priests with peasant backgrounds and revivalist movement ideals. After growing up in a vicarage, writer Juhani Aho – the son of a priest with the honorary title of rovasti – wrote about the contradictory personal relationships of a priest’s family. In his trilogy Täällä pohjan tähden alla (Under the North Star), writer Väinö Linna powerfully described a local conflict between a vicarage and crofters, which was part of broader social and ideological turmoil in the early 1900s.
The history of the privileges of vicarages and the clergy has thus had its own contradictions. However, it could also be a matter of honour for the local people to help the vicar get along well in his vicarage. The vicarage, the church and the bell-tower were regarded as symbols of the greatness and wealth of the parish. In a way, vicarages were also centres of progress, often rapidly adopting the inventions of experimental science. For example, in the 1700s, some vicarages were said to be using thermometers and barometers. In 1766 the Kaarlela vicarage had some sort of an electric machine, and in 1775 the Kruunupyy vicarage used a compass and a microscope. The sundial in the yard might make way for a wall clock and a pocket watch. Enlightenment and utility were the dominant philosophies.
Priests’ teachings included not only dogmatics and moral philosophy but also topics such as agriculture, gardening and management of finances. Already in the mid-1700s, Pehr Kalm, a professor of natural history and economics, encouraged his students in Turku to establish gardens in their future residences, similar to those he had seen on his journeys abroad. Kalm claimed that various serious diseases – such as scurvy, diseases of the nervous system, fevers, paralysis, rheumatism and lung diseases – resulted from excessive meat eating, too much salt and sitting. He recommended, above all, a diet based on milk and vegetables. This inspired young students to collect, for instance, apple, cherry and plum seeds, which they brought to their vicarages for planting. In the Rosenlund vicarage, Vicar Gabriel Aspegren encouraged the country folk to grow and breed plants in order to avoid famines caused by crop failure and to reduce imports.
The clergy were often also responsible for health care, vaccinations, poor relief and folk education in their parish. In addition, they could have tasks in municipal administration, such as taking care of grain stores and repairing bridges. One example of priests’ social activism was Edvard Johansson, the vicar of Kokkola, who acted as a hard-working advocate of Finnishness and Finnish-speaking education towards the end of the 1800s. Anders Chydenius, the multitalented vicar of Kaarlela, is widely renowned as a socially and ethically influential figure.
Actors and sources
Manuscript: Kari Ilmonen (translation by Sirpa Vehviläinen, University of Jyväskylä Language Services)
Photos: Kari Ilmonen, Museovirasto - Musketti (www.finna.fi), K.H. Renlundin museo - Keski-Pohjanmaan maakuntamuseo, Suomalaiset pappilat -teos, Pedersöre storsockens historia I -teos and Rosenlundin pappilan kuva-arkisto.
Graphic layout: Creative Preludi
Team: Kari Ilmonen, Helena Anttiroiko-Mehtälä, Veli-Matti Herlevi, Katariina Hietamäki, Tuomo Puutio, Pirjo Pajunpää, Mikko Niemelä, Krista Yrjänä, Pentti Silvennoinen, Ann-Christine Krooks, Jan Ehnvall, Marika Kjellman, Barbro Berglund, Max-Olav Lassila, Pertti Hyttinen, Ulla Nyström, Tuomo Härmänmaa and Matias Meriläinen
Sources:
Aspegrenin puutarha – Rosenlund. Museo Pohjanmaa. http://www.museiportalosterbotten.fi/museot-a-o/museo/9-aspegrenin-puutarha-rosenlund
Axelqvist, Nina & Häggblom, Sara: Karleby prästgård från 1700-tal till nutid. En beskrivning av den fysiska miljön. Karleby hembygdsmuseum. Karleby 2003.
Björkskog, Fredrik: Larsmo kyrka 200 år. Forsbergs Tryckeri 1992.
Björkskog, Fredrik: Larsmo kyrka 1787–2012. Larsmo Församling 2012.
Chydenius, Anders: Anders Chydeniuksen puhe Kruunupyyn mestauspaikalla 1786. Suomennos Heikki Eskelinen. Teoksessa Anders Chydenius Kootut teokset osa 5. Toim. Maren Jonasson ja Pertti Hyttinen. Edita. Porvoo 2016. S. 361–379.
Chydenius, Anders: ”Larm-trumman om tjänstefolkets sjelfwåld” (Prodromus) Dagligt Allehanda 11.8.1778. I boken Anders Chydenius samlade skrifter band 3. Utgivna av Maren Jonasson och Pertti Hyttinen. SLS & Atlantis. Borgå 2015. S. 106–110.
Chydenius, Anders: Om en ny tilredning af opium. I boken Anders Chydenius samlade skrifter band 3. Utgivna av Maren Jonasson och Pertti Hyttinen. SLS & Atlantis. Borgå 2015. S. 495–501.
Chydenius, Anders: ”Palvelusväen omavaltaisuus…” (Prodromus). Dagligt Allehanda 11.8.1778. Suomennos Heikki Eskelinen. Teoksessa Anders Chydenius Kootut teokset osa 3. Toim. Maren Jonasson ja Pertti Hyttinen. Edita. Porvoo 2015. S. 103–107.
Chydenius, Anders: Tal, hållit på afrättsplatsen i Kronoby 1786. I boken Anders Chydenius samlade skrifter band 5. Utgivna av Maren Jonasson och Pertti Hyttinen. SLS & Atlantis. Borgå 2016. S. 351–366.
Chydenius, Anders: Tutkimus siitä, onko kansalaisten vapauden… 1778. Suomennos Heikki Eskelinen. Teoksessa Anders Chydenius Kootut teokset osa 3. Toim. Maren Jonasson ja Pertti Hyttinen. Edita. Porvoo 2015. S. 109–158.
Chydenius, Anders: Undersökning, om det är.. I boken Anders Chydenius samlade skrifter band 3. Utgivna av Maren Jonasson och Pertti Hyttinen. SLS & Atlantis. Borgå 2015. S. 112–119.
Chydenius, Anders: Uudesta oopiumin valmistustavasta… 1800. Suomennos Heikki Eskelinen. Teoksessa Anders Chydenius Kootut teokset osa 3. Toim. Maren Jonasson ja Pertti Hyttinen. Edita. Porvoo 2015. S. 508–514.
Det sista talet – Anders Chydenius återkomst. Lauri Tuomi-Nikula & Siiri Viljakka. DON L Inspirations. Karleby 2016.
Edvard Johansson – yhteiskunta-aktiivinen paimen. Kirj. Malena Björkgren. Karleby Hembygdsförening rf. Kokkola 1999.
Ehnvall, Jan: Rosenlunds prostgård i Pedersöre. Proseminarieuppsats i konsthistoria med konstteori. Åbo Akademi 22.4.1986.
Helistö, Paavo: Anders Chydenius ja hänen nuotistonsa. The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. Alba 2003.
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Himanka, Mikko: Arthur Keckman (1863–1942) kertoo suurista nälkävuosista Lohtajalla. Lohtajan Joulu 1978. S. 6–7.
Himanka, Mikko: Arthur Keckmanin muistelmia vuodelta 1873. Lohtajan Joulu 1979. S. 14–15.
Kaarlelan kirkko ja pappila. Valtakunnallisesti merkittävät rakennetut kulttuuriympäristöt RKY. Museovirasto. http://www.rky.fi/read/asp/r_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=1642
Kruunupyyn kirkko ympäristöineen ja Torgaren pappila. Valtakunnallisesti merkittävät rakennetut kulttuuriympäristöt RKY. Museovirasto. http://www.rky.fi/read/asp/r_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=1621
Last words – The return of Anders Chydenius. Lauri Tuomi-Nikula & Siiri Viljakka. DON L Inspirations. Kokkola 2016.
Lohtajan kirkko ja pappila. Valtakunnallisesti merkittävät rakennetut kulttuuriympäristöt RKY. Museovirasto. http://www.rky.fi/read/asp/r_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=1656
Lohtajan pappila. http://www.kokkolanseurakuntayhtyma.fi/kirkotjatilat/lohtajan_pappila
Marieholmin pappila. Valtakunnallisesti merkittävät rakennetut kulttuuriympäristöt RKY. Museovirasto. http://www.rky.fi/read/asp/r_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=1654%20%20%20
Nikula, Sigrid: Från Pederstad till Rosenlund. Pedersöre, Jakobstads Tidnings jul- och hembygdsblad 1934. S. 11–17.
Nikula, Sigrid: Prosten Gabriel Aspegren. Pedersöre, Jakobstads Tidnings jul- och hembygdsblad 1936. S. 14–18.
Rosenlund http://www.rosenlund.fi/
Rosenlund – pappilan korjaus. Aspegrenin puutarhasäätiö 2012.
Rosenlundin pappila. Valtakunnallisesti merkittävät rakennetut kulttuuriympäristöt RKY. Museovirasto. http://www.rky.fi/read/asp/r_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=1661
Storå, Nils: Torgare prästgård i Kronoby. Kronoby 1982.
Suolahti, Gunnar: Suomen pappilat 1700-luvulla. WSOY. Porvoo 1912.
Suomalaiset pappilat. Kulttuuri- talous- ja rakennushistoriaa. Toim. Marja Terttu Knapas, Markku Heikkilä ja Timo Åvist. Kuvatoimitus Sirkku Dölle. SKS. Helsinki 2009.
Suur-Lohtajan historia I. Kirj. Ville Luho ja Armas Luukko. Keski-Pohjanmaan historiasarja 3. Kokkola 1957.
Suur-Lohtajan historia II. Kirj. Leevi Junkala ja Maria Niemelä. Keski-Pohjanmaan historiasarja 4. Kokkola 1977.
Söderhjelm, Alma: Jakobstads historia. Andra delen. Vasa 1974.
Torgaren pappila. Museo Pohjanmaa. http://www.museiportalosterbotten.fi/museot-a-o/museo/33-torgaren-pappila
Torgare Prästgård http://www.torgare.fi/
Vaasan läänin vanhat pappilat 1700-luvulta 1920-luvulle. Kirj. Matti Salomäki. Vaasan lääninhallituksen julkaisusarja 1994: 11. Vaasa 1994.
Viimeinen puhe – Anders Chydeniuksen paluu. Lauri Tuomi-Nikula & Siiri Viljakka. DON L Inspirations. Kokkola 2016.
Åkerblom, Bror: Pedersöre historia 1865–1965. Pedersöre kommuns förlag. Jakobstad 1971.
Åkerblom, K. V.: Pedersöre storsockens historia intill 1865, I–II. Kommunernas förlag. Jakobstad 1950.
Services
Rosenlund vicarage
Torgare vicarage
Lohtaja vicarage
http://www.kokkolanseurakuntayhtyma.fi/kirkotjatilat/lohtajan_pappila
Route
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