Lemland church and Lemböte chapel

Lemland has two medieval places of worship that tell the same story from two sides. The church in Söderby was the parish church of a farming community. The chapel at Lemböte stood by a natural harbour on the great sailing route and served seafarers. Both are close to the water, and both can be visited in one day together with the Lemström canal.

Lemland church, Åland Islands: St Birgitta’s in Söderby

The church stands in Söderby, next to the parish’s largest Iron Age burial ground, within easy reach of a good harbour on the shores of Lumparn. It is built of red Åland rapakivi granite. The nave measures 18.6 by 11.4 metres, with walls about one metre thick.

How old is the church?

Excavations in the 1950s revealed the foundations of an older wooden church, and the oldest coins point to the early 13th century. The stone church has been dated by dendrochronology, that is, by the tree rings in its timber:

Part	Date
Roof trusses over the nave	1280s
Chancel wall paintings	1290s
West tower	c. 1317
Sacristy and porch	early 14th century
East chancel	1670s, main chancel from 1775
Tower spire	renewed 1817

One single analysis has given the 1240s, but kyrkor.ax stresses that this date is surprisingly early and that firm conclusions must wait for more results. The east chancel was built in the 1670s as a burial chapel for Admiral Johan Bergenstjerna and his wife Kirstin Persdotter of Haddnäs manor. It became the church’s main chancel in 1775. The church had a major renovation in 1957 and its most recent one in 2005 and 2006.

The wall paintings

The medieval paintings were uncovered by Veikko Kiljunen during the 1957 renovation. The chancel was originally covered in richly coloured paintings arranged in three bands:

• on the north wall, the Last Supper and scenes from the life of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of seafarers;
• on the east wall, the Passion, with the Flagellation, the Crucifixion and Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Christ;
• on the south wall, a series on Saint Catherine of Alexandria, identified by the inscription CATERINA.

In the western part of the nave are single apostle figures, drawn in red beside consecration crosses. Only Andrew can be identified, by his X-shaped cross.

What to look for inside

• The Madonna, an enthroned Virgin and Child from around 1320, the oldest surviving wooden sculpture in the church.
• The triumphal crucifix from the mid-14th century.
• The altar cabinet from the mid-15th century, now on the north wall. It was given a new top section showing the Last Supper in 1662, at the initiative of Admiral Bergenstjerna.
• Saint Birgitta, a 15th-century sculpture in the niche of a walled-up window.
• Two votive ships, one from the 17th century and one given in 1844 by the mate J.E. Lundell of Järsö, according to the municipality’s brochure and the parish.
• The pulpit from 1852, and the altarpiece of the Ascension, painted by the court painter Ekman in the 1870s. Sources give different years and initials for the altarpiece.

Lemböte chapel: St Olav’s seafarers’ chapel

Lemböte chapel stands high on Lemböte hill on the eastern shore of Slemmern, east of present-day Mariehamn. It is dedicated to Saint Olav, the Nordic saint. In the Middle Ages it overlooked a well-sheltered natural harbour, the Western Harbour or Chapel Bay. The water level was much higher then, and today the chapel stands some way inland.

A chapel on the medieval sailing route

The place name Linaboete appears in the so-called Danish itinerary from the mid-13th century, which describes the sailing route from Utklippan in Blekinge to Tallinn. The municipality suggests the harbour became a natural stop for sailors travelling between the Swedish and Finnish coasts. Around the chapel are ancient remains: two compass roses laid in stone, a cairn that was probably a sea mark, and a burial ground with about 40 graves.

How old is the chapel?

Mortar samples taken in summer 1996 point either to the late 13th century or to around 1370. In October 1840 a hoard of 270 coins was found by the east gable. Another 273 coins have been recorded from the chapel, 55 of them medieval. The oldest coins may come from an earlier wooden chapel.

After the Reformation the chapel was closed and fell into decay. In 1674 the vicar described a stone chapel that old people called Saint Olav’s chapel, its roof long since fallen in. From the 1880s the ruin was restored under the architect Allan Schulman.

The chapel today

The chapel is built of rapakivi granite and is partly a ruin. It has a single room of 7 by 5.3 metres, with a wooden roof over the walls and timber filling the gaps in the walls and gables. The churchyard is enclosed by a round dry-stone wall. The chapel is used for services and concerts, and an information board on site shows that it is part of the St Olav Waterway pilgrimage route.

How to visit Lemböte chapel

According to finlandnaturally.com:

• By car: about 20 minutes from Mariehamn. Lemböte is about 13 km from Mariehamn, according to Eckerö Linjen.
• Parking: at the start of Kapellstigen, signposted from Lemlandsvägen as you drive towards Långnäs.
• Walk: about 700 metres each way on a narrow path that can be muddy. The last hundred metres climb gently through the forest.
• Accessibility: the route is not suitable for wheelchairs.
• Inside: usually closed, but you can look in through the barred door.

The chapel can be booked for ceremonies through the Lemland-Lumparland parish. More sights nearby are listed under things to do in Lemland, and accommodation in the guide on where to stay.