Museum A-Ö » Historical people and places » Korpholmen Leprosy Hospital

The site of the Korpholmen hospital church has an interesting history. The initially isolated island was inhabited in the 17th and 18th century by leprotics and later also by mental patients, who were spurned by the society. Nowadays it is a peaceful location, where the earlier church of the mental asylum has been restored and the old cemetery preserved. In addition to the scenic landscape, the small museum depicting the history of the hospital is also worth a visit.

There was a leprosy hospital, a mental asylum and a nursing home in Korpholmen in Kronoby during the years 1631-1884. At the time, when the leprosy hospital was founded, leprosy was a feared disease, as it was deemed highly contagious. Because of that the leprotics were banished to isolated areas, so that they wouldn’t be in touch with other people. During that period there was only one other leprosy hospital in Finland, on the island of Seili in the Turku archipelago. Patients were accepted in Korpholmen all the way from Malax in the south to Hailuoto in the north.

As leprosy gradually vanished from the region during the 18th century, in the hospital were also accepted “deranged” people i.e. mental patients, as well as blind persons and other poor and sick individuals. Especially numerous patients were taken in Korpholmen during the Greater Wrath in the beginning of the 18th century, because many were according to the records of the hospital so badly tortured by the Russians, that they lost their minds.

Korpholmen is no longer an island due to upthrust. Archaeological excavations have been made on the area, and together with maps and the scale model in the museum building one gets a good idea about the hospital and its activity. The steeple was rebuilt during the years 2006-2007 and a replica of the 18th century hospital church was built in 2007 by the well-known carpenter and church-builder Seppo Kalliokoski. The atmospheric wood interior creates a unique surrounding, which is crowned by the altar of the old Kronoby church. Devotions and church services are held in the church in the summer and autumn. Music evenings and theatre shows are also arranged on the area in the summertime.