Location: Vihti (FINLAND)

N60°25.07'

E024°18.72'

St. Birgitta, Picture 1- The chronicles mentions St. Brigittine church for the first time in 1433, as being a part of the Lohja congrecation. Some documents would indicate that before the actual stone church, there was a wooden church here and the stone church would have been build in the 15th century.

- The St. Brigittine church was in use all the way to the year 1793, when the use as a burial church was ceased. In the beginning of the 19th century, some of the stone structures were sold and rest of the foundations were left alone. However during an autumn storm in 1869, the western gable collapsed and the church was forgotten. 

- The restoration work was started in 1947 and continued to the year 1952. In 1961 the roof was build to protect the vestry. However despite the restoration projects, the church is still a ruin, with just a stone foundations showing the location of the church. Today the ruins are looked after, so that the nature wouldn't take over the place. The church is also now and then used for service.

- St. Brigittine was a founder of the Brigittine nunneries. She was born in 1303 and was married at the age of eighteen. After her husband died, she used to fall into a trance, where she would repeat the instructions from Christ and finally she proclaimed to be the instrument of the will of Christ. Her pilgrimage to Rome, was her last journey as she died in 1373 and was buried in Vadstena.

- After her death, Brigittine was proclaimed as a saint and the convent system that she had helped to start, grew into a full convent chain in Scandinavia, with Vihti area also building the St. Brigittine church. The only Brigittine nunnery in Finland, was located in Naantali.

 

St. Birgitta, Picture 2

 

- The main service hall, with a wooden altar erected later on. The vestry is located on the right side of the picture and that really is everthing that there is from the ruins. Really peaceful place during the summer months, as there's not a soul around when the nearby school is closed. You need some good imagination to think how the place have looked some 600 to 700 years ago. The view to the lake must have been beautiful in the Sunday morning....

St. Birgitta, Picture 3

 

St. Birgitta, Picture 4

 

St. Birgitta, Picture 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Door leading to the vestry...

St. Birgitta, Picture 6

 

Helsinki & The Surroundings

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