The Church of St. Michael

Description

Keminmaa old church is northest medieval church in Finland (built in 1520-1553) and one of the latest ones built before Reformation.

The paintings on the ceiling depict the sufferings of Christ; they date from 1650. The pictures of saints on the walls, the baptismal font and the holy-water font date from the Catholic times. The bier and stocks located in the church porch as well as the black pew standing inside the church itself remind us of the old parish tradition.

The fame of the Old Church of the Parish of Keminmaa is mostly based on the Lutheran priest, Nikolaus Rungius. He was the vicar of Kemi church during the Thirty Years War. Nikolaus Rungius died in 1629 and he was buried under the church in the tradition of the times.