Museum A-Ö » Religion and society » Påras Chapel

On the site of the Påras Chapel near Stråka stood the first church of the Kronoby parish.

The simple chapel, which’s appearance is unfortunately unknown, was the shared chapel of the villages of Påras, Teerijärvi, Bråtö and Hopsala in the Kronoby river valley. Out of these villages Hopsala belonged to the greater parish of Pedersöre and the three others to Karleby. When these four villages seceded in 1607 as a separate parish, Kronoby, the chapel became the first church of the parish.

On the site, which is located approximately 2 km east of the town centre of Kronoby along Lentokentäntie (highway 748), is nowadays a memorial. The citizens of Påras constructed during the winter of 2011-2012 an information centre/exhibition house on the site of the old chapel with the help of some volunteers. It was inaugurated on 31 May 2012. The ceiling of the chapel has been painted in a similar way as the one, that presumably used to be on the spot and is now preserved in Helsinki. The history of the chapel site as well as the time before Christianity is recounted in the information plaques inside the chapel.