Muhos Church

The church of Muhos was completed in 1634 and is the third church in the parish. Muhos church is the oldest wooden church in Finland, which has been preserved almost in its original shape. It is built in the form of a rectangular basilica, a so called buttress church. Torninrakentaja-Hannu (Hannu the Tower Builder) is regarded as the builder of the church. There are 500 seats in the church.

The pulpit was built by Mikael Sigfridsson Balt, a carpenter and a sculptor, late in the seventeenth century. On the canopy there stand two angels dressed in white playing trombones and between the angels there is the Saviour with a flag of victory and the globe in his hands. It is assumed that these sculptures are a booty from Germany during the Thirty Year´s War (1618-48). A dove, the symbol of the holy spirit, is hanging from the canopy of the pulpit.

In the 1762 the church was completely renovated and the belfry was built under the guidance of Matti Honka, a famous church builder. The belfry represents the Ostrobothnian Renaissance style. There are two church bells. The bigger one was cast in Stockholm 1757 and the smaller in Helsinki 1885.

During the period of 1773-75 the church was illustrated with paintings of biblical motifs by Emanuel Granberg, a church painter, who was born in Vihanti. When the windows were enlarged and increased in number in 1839, some of the wall paintings in the church hall were destroyed. The ones that survived were covered later with boarding. Some of Granberg´s paintings have been preserved to the present day on the walls of the sacristy and on the gallery balustrade, where from left to right the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah and Daniel are depicted.

References:

• Muhos Parish

Address

Laituritie, Muhos, Finland

Details

Founded: 1634
Category: Religious sites in Finland
Historical period: Swedish Empire (Finland)