Tales from the old church

Sari Kanala 2007
English translation Tony Melville
watercolor illustrations by Iida Pihl
Photographs by Ismo Hannula and Simo Peteri

Tales from the Old Church of Petäjävesi.
The stories tell about an elf, who rings the bells at night, micshievous crows that learn a lesson and the church getting ready for Christmas.

The illustrations are photograhps that have watercolor elements in it. Sometimes it is really hard to tell apart the watercolor from the actual photo. The old church has a fairy tale charm to it.

We Finns take our wood seriously.  Stones were used scaresly since they were so expensive. And so we made our churches from wood. This wooden church is part of the World Heritage Covention.

When I visit the grand churches of Europe, I always wonder how much money was spent on them. How many people could have been fed or educated with that money? On the other hand, I admire them and am very glad that they still exist and that they are not torn down because of some idealism.