Kökar () is an island municipality in the south-eastern part of the

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 ...

archipelago, 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, ...

. It is accessible by ferry from Långnäs on Åland's main island and from Galtby on the Finnish mainland. Kökar has a population of 225 (as of 31 December 2023) and covers a total area of 2,165 km², of which 63.6 km² is land. The population density is 3.5 inhabitants per km². The municipality is unilingually Swedish (with about 10% Finnish-speaking residents). The Östra Långskär nature reserve is located within Kökar. Other notable islands include Kyrkogårdsö. Ulla-Lena Lundberg, a Finnish author, was born in Kökar in 1947.

History

Kökar was first inhabited over 3,000 years ago by seal hunters. A

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

was founded in Hamnö in the 15th century. The monastery is now in ruins. The present-day Church of St. Anne was built in 1784 on the site of the old monastery church.

Sights

The Church of St. Anne, built during the reign of King

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw ...

, stands on the island of Hamnö. It is located next to the ruins of the Franciscan monastery. The belltower, constructed in the 19th century, was restored after being damaged by a storm in 1978. Inside the church hangs a model of a sailing ship with 64

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

s, donated by a local sailor who had been captured by North African pirates but later escaped. The local museum, opened in 1988, displays everyday life in Kökar from the 19th century to the 1940s. The museum is housed in a former school building dating from 1913. There is also a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

site dating back to 1150–1050 BC, discovered in 1918.

References

External links

Municipality of Kökar
– Official website
Museum of Kökar (archived website)
Municipalities of Åland Finnish islands in the Baltic Landforms of Åland {{Åland-geo-stub