Top Historic Sights in Ilmajoki, Finland

Explore the historic highlights of Ilmajoki

Jaakko Ilkka Statue

Jaakko Ilkka (1545-1597) was a Finnish yeoman and trader. He is remembered for leading the Cudgel War, a peasant uprising in the kingdom of Sweden against exploitation by nobility and military. At its end, and the peasants' defeat on January 1–2, 1597, Ilkka escaped, but was soon recaptured and executed for his part in the fighting. Jaakko Ilkka was executed in Kyrönjoki and his body was brought near Ilmajo ...

Founded: 1924 | Location: Ilmajoki, Finland

Ilmajoki Church

The current wooden church is the third one in Ilmajoki and it was inaugurated in 1766. The large cruciform church has 1000 seats and it was built by Matti Honka. The belfry dates from 1804. The altarpiece has been painted by Alexandra Frosterus-Såltin in 1879. The original altarpiece, painted by Johan Alm, is today in Ilmajoki Church Museum. Next to the church there is a beautiful churchyard and a mausoleum of local Kön ...

Founded: 1766 | Location: Ilmajoki, Finland

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Mr Phil Price

Historic Site of the week

Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre

Built around AD 90 to entertain the legionaries stationed at the fort of Caerleon (Isca), the impressive amphitheatre was the Roman equivalent of today’s multiplex cinema. Wooden benches provided seating for up to 6,000 spectators, who would gather to watch bloodthirsty displays featuring gladiatorial combat and exotic wild animals.

Long after the Romans left, the amphitheatre took on a new life in Arthurian legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the somewhat imaginative 12th-century scholar, wrote in his History of the Kings of Britain that Arthur was crowned in Caerleon and that the ruined amphitheatre was actually the remains of King Arthur’s Round Table.

Today it is the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain.