Every design for Eurajoki

Near the mouth of the Eurajoki river lie the earthworks of Liinmaa fortress, raised by Albrecht of Mecklenburg in the Middle Ages to command the valley and the ships passing along the coast. The castle is long gone, but the place has gone on gathering people: after the last wars, families from Räisälä were resettled here and made Eurajoki their home, and the coastal parish of Luvia later joined it.

What sets Eurajoki apart is the island of Olkiluoto, which holds three of Finland's five nuclear reactors and Onkalo, a deep repository for spent fuel built into the bedrock. Few small municipalities have such a role in the life of a whole country. Yet the village itself keeps its older face: Vuojoen kartano, a manor designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, the neoclassical church known as the Church of Gustav II Adolf, and the wooden church of Irjanne, the oldest in Satakunta. Sudenkuoppa, the old wolf pit, and the Sankaripatsas memorial are familiar stops.

Highway 8 runs through Eurajoki on its way between Rauma and Pori, and for everyone raised here the turn towards the river still means home.