Finström Church

St Michael's at Finström is a grey stone church built mostly in the fifteenth century around a thirteenth-century sacristy, and its vaults carry the finest medieval wall paintings in Åland, uncovered from under whitewash in the twentieth century: saints, scenes and ornament running across the ceilings in red and ochre. A medieval wooden sculpture of St Michael weighing the souls stands in the church. Its stone tower of the late fifteenth century is said to have inspired the tower of Tampere Cathedral. Godby, the largest settlement outside Mariehamn, is a short distance away and serves as the island's northern centre.

What's there

• The vault paintings - the finest surviving medieval decoration in the islands.
• The St Michael sculpture - the medieval figure weighing souls.
• The stone tower - late fifteenth-century work, said to have inspired Tampere Cathedral.
• The grey stone - the local granite of the fifteenth-century fabric.

When to go

May to September is when the church is regularly open. Winter hours are limited and it can be locked. Services take priority over visits.

Practical notes

The church is often locked outside the summer season. The paintings are high on the vaults and hard to see in poor light. Interpretation is mainly in Swedish.

Nearby

Godby is nearby, and Geta is northwest.

Key facts