The Church of Matarengi (Övertorneå)

When Maupertuis’ expedition arrived in Övertorneå (Ylitornio), the Church of Matarengi still smelled of fresh wood. The church was completed the previous year, in 1735. The current bell tower did not yet exist, as it was completed some thirty years later in 1763.

The church was built by Hans Gabrielsson Biskop (c. 1684–1760) from Kruunupyy, Ostrobothnia. The current organ, brought from Stockholm, was not in the church when the French may have attended the services of Erik Brunnius the Younger (1706–1783) there. The organ, which dates back to the 17th century, was acquired in 1780.

The first known church in the parish of Övertorneå was in Särkilahti, a few kilometres to the north. The Särkilahti chapel was built in the late 1400s.

Already in 1530 the parish of Särkilahti in Övertorneå had become an independent parish.
The great spring flood of 1615 completely destroyed the chapel, after which it was moved to the site of the present Church of Matarengi, at the foot of Särkivaara. It was destroyed in 1717, during the Great Wrath, by Russian Cossacks. The vicar Johannes Nicolai Tornberg (1640–1717) tried to protect the silverware in his church. The cossacks assaulted the vicar and he died of his injuries two days later.

The building was completely demolished when the new church was built in the 18th century.
A new chapel was built in 2018 on the site of the oldest chapel in Särkilahti, which was destroyed in the flood.

In Réginald Outhier’s journal, the Church of Matarengi was called Church of Särkilahti. The vicar Erik Brunnius the Elder (1660–1741) and his family lived near it. The elderly vicar’s duties were mainly performed by his son, Brunnius the Younger.

The Övertorneå vicarage was a central location for the expedition. They often stayed at the welcoming and hospitable vicarage. Additionally, the younger Brunnius helped the expedition in many ways. Among other things, he built the wooden poles and the support legs necessary for measuring the baseline according to French instructions.

The second church in the parish was in Hietaniemi. Ten years after Maupertuis’ visit, in 1747, a new church was built in Hietaniemi. It as well was designed by Biskop. In autumn 2023, the wooden church in Hietaniemi burned to the ground and was completely destroyed.

In addition to Matarengi and Hietaniemi, Kengis had a chapel church and its own curate in Pajala.

Sources:

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de. “Kirje Verteillacin kreivittärelle”. Transl. Osmo Pekonen. Maan muoto ynnä muita kirjoituksia Lapista. Ed. Osmo Pekonen. Väyläkirjat, 2019.

Slunga, Nils. “Kirkko ja koulu – papisto ja kirkollinen elämä”. Tornionlaakson historia II. 1600-luvulta vuoteen 1809. Eds. Olof Hederyd et al. Tornionlaakson kuntien historiakirjatoimikunta. Jyväskylä, 1993.

Väänänen, Kyösti: Johannes Nicolai Tornberg. Turun hiippakunnan paimenmuisto 1554–1721, online publication. Studia Biographica 9. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2011– (referred 3.5.2024). Permanent ID for the publication URN:NBN:fi-fe201101191118; permanent ID for the article http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:sks-thp-002540

A map

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On the old map

The Church of Matarengi or Övertorneå on the map drawn by Réginald Outhier (Carte du fleuve de Torneå, 1736).

Tämän kuvan alt-attribuutti on tyhjä; Tiedoston nimi on Outhiern-kartta_Matarengin-kirkko.jpg

Want a map for yourself? The map is currently sold as a poster (225 mm x 707 mm) in the shop of the Museum of Torne Valley (address Torikatu 4, Tornio).

Information

The Church of Matarengi is located in the center of Matarengi (Övertorneå) at Matarengivägen 31.

The 19th of August 1736. “On Sunday, the nineteenth, some of our party going to church, where there was a sermon, were astonished to hear the sobbing of the audience, affected by the discourse of M. Brunius. On their return from church, it was said that the forest of Horrilakero was on fire; this turned out to be true: – – -”

The 22nd of August 1736. “At nine o’clock we returned to sup and sleep at M. Brunius’s: his house was the best retreat we met with: it was placed nearly in the middle of the space comprised by our triangles, and very near the northern extremity of our base: we always found there three rooms; that we coud occupy without inconvenience to the family, which was very numerous.”
Réginald Outhier. Journal of a Voyage to the North (Journal d’un voyage au Nord), 1744.

The 21st of December 1736. “On Friday the 21st of December, the Day of the Winter Solstice, and a pretty remarkable one for such an Enterprize, we began the measure of our Base towards Avasaxa, where it lay. In this Season the Sun but just showed himself above the Horizon towards Noon.

But the long Twilights, the whiteness of the Snow, and the Meteors that are continually blazing in this Sky, furnished us light enough to work four or five hours every day.

At 11 in the Forenoon we left the Curate’s House, where we had taken up our Quarters till this Work should be finished, and went upon the River to begin our Survey;- – -”
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis. The Figure of the Earth (La Figure de la Terre), 1738.

Pictures from the Church of Matarengi

The pictures open in large size in the gallery by clicking on the picture.

The expedition on the map

Réginald Outhier has written a detailed description of the expedition’s journey from Paris to Tornio and back. The journey took two months each way and was made by boat and wagon. On the way back, the expedition was in a shipwreck in the Bay of Bothnia.

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