Hammarland ( in Swedish) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

, an autonomous region of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Its entire population of people () speak Swedish, with 90% having it as their

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

(31 December 2008). Hammarland is known for its historic church, considered one of the

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...

es of Åland.

Geography

Hammarland has a total area of , of which is water and only is land. Märket, the westernmost point of Finland, is an

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

of Hammarland.

Demographics

The municipality has a population of (), with a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of . The municipality is unilingually Swedish. , of its population spoke Swedish as their

, making Hammarland one of the municipalities with the highest percentage of Swedish speakers in Finland.

Church

The Hammarland Church is a historic building located on an old postal road in the municipality's north, near a small lake connected to a bay and the sea. It is consecrated to Saint

Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and Virginity, virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a ...

and is considered one of the

es of Åland. Constructed from local red granite, known as , the church features a stepped skyline composed of three distinct levels. The highest point is a pyramidal tower built against the western section of the nave's southern wall. The nave itself forms the second-highest structure, while the lowest part is a narrowing chancel to the east, constructed against the nave's original eastern wall. There are small stones in the nave, with larger granite slabs framing the corners. A simple stepped socle runs along the base of the nave, except for a short stretch on the southern side. The church is characterised by large, roughly hewn windows, and the south façade of the nave shows clear evidence of later modifications.

Geography

Demographics

Church

Transportation

References

External links