Every design for Lohja

Picture yourself beneath the painted walls of the Church of St. Lawrence in Lohja. The medieval grey-stone church, one of the largest of its kind in Finland, has watched over the centre since the days when Lohja was a mother parish whose lands took in Vihti, Karkkila and Sammatti. Lojo in Swedish, the town was a trading centre in the Middle Ages and has anchored western Uusimaa ever since.

For many, the memory of Lohja is apples. The fruit reached the manor gardens centuries ago, thrived in the limy soil and became, alongside limestone, a symbol of the town, celebrated every year at the Apple Carnival. Manors such as Laakspohjan kartano and Ojamon kartano shaped the landscape, and Finland's first mine opened at Ojamo. Below ground the story goes on: Tytyri Elämyskaivos, the Tytyri Mine Experience, takes visitors down into the limestone the town was built on.

Lohjanjärvi, Lake Lohja, fills much of the map, and the town has more summer cottages than almost anywhere else in the country. For anyone who grew up here, the shoreline drawn on it is the one that framed every summer.