Euran kirkkoympäristö

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

The historic public buildings of Eura church village (kirkonkylä) – the church, the parsonage, the school and the community hall Euran Pirtti – form a historic island along the raitti that runs through the church village. Euran Pirtti is a total work of art in its exterior and interiors and one of the most representative community halls in our country. On the parsonage hill, the historic structures combine into a temporally deep and diverse whole.

Along the raitti, on a steep hillock rising at the edge of a broad cultivated plain, lies Eura parsonage. The main building, built in the 1840s, stands at the highest point of the hillock, which has been planted as a park, and the farm buildings are on the lower slope. The exterior architecture of the main building follows the building practice of the Empire period, and the stylistic features are especially emphasised in the details of the porch. On the parsonage grounds there is a cemetery dating back to the Late Iron Age.

The long church with a tower, built of red brick and granite, standing in the middle of the old cemetery, was designed by architect Josef Stenbäck. The church was restored in the 1920s under the direction of architect Erkki Huttunen. The altarpiece depicting the Resurrection of Jesus, painted by painter Aleksandra Soltin, dates from 1899. On the edge of the cemetery is a brick storehouse building.

The youth association house Euran Pirtti, designed by Eura artist Jalmari Karhula, stands opposite the church, on the other side of the raitti. The Jugend-style, partly two-storey building has the massive roof section and small-paned windows typical of Karhula, as in his own nearby house, also called Karhula. All the details and the original furnishings of the building were designed by Jalmari Karhula.

On the east side of the cemetery flows the Eurajoki river, which is crossed by a two-arched stone bridge built in the 19th century on the road to Luukkala village. The old school in the church village dates from 1880.

History

Eura is mentioned as a mother parish in 1425. The present church, representing mainly Neo-Gothic, was completed in 1898. Earlier churches, completed in 1640 and 1728, stood on the same site.

The old four-room parsonage was small by the living standards of the clergy in the 1840s. Extending the old parsonage with gable rooms was abandoned, and the parish building committee proposed the construction of an entirely new parsonage. The plans were drawn up by Turku city architect P.J. Gylich, and construction was overseen by M. Roos of Mouhijärvi. The parsonage was completed in 1843.

Euran Pirtti was completed in 1908. In the 1970s the building was to be moved to Seurasaari, but the Kotiseutuyhdistys Euran Pirtti, a society founded by Eura associations, restored the building in its original location as a festive venue for the people of Eura.