Karuna Church

Built in 1685, Karuna Church is the oldest building on Seurasaari. It was built by Baron/Colonel Arvid Horn, owner of a manor in Sauvo. The story goes that Horn could not get permission to marry from the father of his intended bride, so he kidnapped the local vicar and held him till he agreed to marry the two. Though legal, the marriage was never accepted and he could not receive communion or sit at the front pew of his church. This led to construction of the Karuna Church. Though a public church, the owner of a church could select it's clergy. By building his own church, the baron merely needed to hire clergy that would give him communion, thus solving his problem.

Another story is that he built the church to honor his first wife and guarantee her soul passage to heaven after he disgraced her by having an affair with his cousin. I prefer the first one, though either tale is interesting, if true. After 300+ years, there are several accounts and it's hard to know what his real motivation was.

The tall roof and barrel vault was added in 1773-1774 by master builder, Anders Wahlberg who also added the church tower in 1767. The church was moved to this location in 1912. As the church was originally built for (or at least because of) a marriage, it seems only appropriate that it is a popular site for weddings.



Above: Simple cross graves in front of the church Above Right: The Dutch style pulpit dates from 1680. You can see the barrel vault ceiling as well. Right: As a seafaring culture, ships like this one were common in churches. Below. The church tower, a separate building from the main church.