The Wooden Church of Heinävesi

This is my very first postcard from Finland. It was sent by Eeva of Postcrossing.

"The Heinävesi Church is located right in the heart of Heinävesi, Finland. Surrounded by fields, the tall church hill dominates the entire village and the surrounding landscape. The church hill is home to the wooden church, the churchyard surrounded by a stone fence and the old cemetery next to it. In addition, the church hill has the old parish hall and a granary that has been transformed into a museum. There is a road leading from the church to the harbor, which was a major inland waterway center.

The current church, a wooden cruciform building designed by Josef Stenbäck, is Heinävesi’s third church in the same spot. The previous church, which had been drawn by Carl Ludvig Engel and completed in 1840, burnt down in 1887. The current church was built by volunteers from 1890 to 1891 under the direction of construction engineer E. J. Holopainen. The church was designed to hold 2,000 people. It has organs that are from 1906 and 1980." (Source: Museums of Southern Savo)

The postcard came with this round-shaped stamp, which I initially thought was just a decorative sticker. Well, in fact, it's really a sticker. It's a self-adhesive stamp!

I wanted to know more about the stamp so I consulted Mr. Google. I found out that it is one of the two stamps issued in April of the current year featuring the dahlia flower. I also learned that Suomi is the shortened version of "Suomen tasavalta -- Republiken Finland," or the Republic of Finland.


I'm certainly looking forward to receiving another postcard from Finland! Finnish stamps are so cool, don't you think so?

Wishing you happy journeys...

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