Karkku is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

and former municipality in

Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; sv, Birkaland; la, Birkaria, link=no), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme and Sou ...

region,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It was consolidated in 1973 with

Vammala Vammala is a former town and municipality of southwestern Finland, chartered in 1907. On 1 January 2009, Vammala was consolidated with the municipalities of Mouhijärvi and Äetsä, to form a new city named Sastamala. Geography Vammala was locate ...

, which in turn, was consolidated with

Äetsä Äetsä is a former municipality of southwestern Finland. The municipality was founded on 1981 when municipalities of Keikyä and Kiikka were consolidated to a single municipality. On 1 January 2009, it was consolidated with the municipalities ...

and

Mouhijärvi Mouhijärvi is a former municipality of Finland, located in the southwestern part of the country. It was an agricultural village since the 18th century. On 1 January in 2009 Mouhijärvi was consolidated with the municipalities of Vammala and Ä ...

into a town of

Sastamala Sastamala () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Pirkanmaa region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water, making it the largest municipality in the Pirkanmaa region in terms of area. The ...

in 2009. Karkku is located by the lake Rautavesi, about 13 kilometres north of the Sastamala town center. The village of Karkku is listed as a Cultural environment of national significance by the

Finnish National Board of Antiquities The Finnish Heritage Agency ( fi, Museovirasto, sv, Museiverket), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is ...

History

The village of Karkku was the center of the Medieval

socken Socken is the name used for a part of a county in Sweden. In Denmark similar areas are known as ''sogn'', in Norway ''sokn'' or ''sogn'' and in Finland ''pitäjä'' ''(socken)''. A socken is a country-side area that was formed around a church, ...

(not to be confused with the modern town of Sastamala), which was one of the 10 original sockens of the historical province of

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish and Swedish, ) is a region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia. The capital city of the region is ...

. During the 15th and 16th century, Sastamala was split into several smaller parishes. The parish of Karkku was established in 1328. In Karkku is located three churches; the Medieval Saint Mary's Church from the late 15th century, the

Karkku Church Karkku is a locality and former municipality in Pirkanmaa region, Finland. It was consolidated in 1973 with Vammala, which in turn, was consolidated with Äetsä and Mouhijärvi into a town of Sastamala in 2009. Karkku is located by the lake Rau ...

built in 1913 and the modernist Salokunta Church, completed in 1960 by the design of the architect

Timo Penttilä Timo Jussi Penttilä (16 March 1931 – 25 February 2011) was one of Finland's most important modernist architects and was for over 15 years a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in Austria. He is most renowned for the design of th ...

. The

Karkku railway station The Karkku railway station is located in the village of Karkku in the town of Sastamala, Finland. The station is located about 43 kilometres from the Tampere railway station and about 92 kilometres from the Pori railway station. Nowadays, the sta ...

was opened in 1895 as the

Tampere–Pori railway The Tampere–Pori railway is a railway running between the cities of Tampere and Pori in Finland. The line carries passenger traffic from Tampere to Pori via five railway stations and continues as a freight line to the Port of Pori. Tampere–P ...

was completed. The village is also known of the 1918

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

Battle of Karkku A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

which was related to the

Battle of Tampere The Battle of Tampere was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Tampere, Finland from 15 March to 6 April between the Whites and the Reds. It is the most famous and the heaviest of all the Finnish Civil War battles. Today it is particularl ...

. Karkku is the birthplace of the politician

Hannes Ryömä August Johannes (Hannes) Ryömä (24 April 1878 – 22 May 1939) was a Finnish physician and politician, born in Karkku. Biography He was a member of the Parliament of Finland for the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1919 to 1939. He se ...

References

Villages in Finland Former municipalities of Finland Sastamala {{WesternFinland-geo-stub