Churches

Rymättylä Church

Rymättylä Church was built in the Middle Ages on an isthmus between two sea bays. Kirkkolahti was a sheltered harbour, and what is now Lake Kirkkojärvi was also a sea bay at the time.

There are different views on the construction history of Finland’s medieval stone churches. The sacristy is often considered the oldest part of Rymättylä Church and can be dated to the 1300s, suggesting a wooden church may have existed here earlier. The stone church was built around the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, with vaulting completed in the late 1400s. The wall paintings were added after the vaults were finished, possibly in the 1520s, when the Reformation had already begun in Germany. Another interpretation is that the nave and vaults were built all at once in the late 1400s.

The church is dedicated to St James (James the Elder), one of Jesus’ disciples. Tradition holds that he preached as far as Spain. After his martyrdom in 44 AD, he was buried in Santiago de Compostela, which became a major pilgrimage destination and remains so today. Rymättylä’s single-nave church interior is remarkably well preserved.

Accessibility

The church is accessible, but the altar cannot be reached by wheelchair. An accessible toilet is in the cemetery service building.