The Tuusula Church Cemetery (Tuusulan vanha hautausmaa) is divided into two sections; the church park, which is also known as the old cemetery or museum cemetery, and the Heroes’ Cemetery (sankarihautausmaa).
The Old Cemetery
The church park is the museum cemetery of the Tuusula church, which was used from the 1640s. This section is the final resting place of notable Finnish cultural figures, like national writer Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872) and painter Pekka Halonen (1865-1933), at a time when the landscape of Tuusula attracted the artists’ community. Because of them, the old Tuusula cemetery is a protected cultural monument.
Eino Ilmari “Illu” Juutilainen
The Old Cemetery is also the last resting place of fighter pilot and top scoring ace of the Finnish Air Force Eino Ilmari “Illu” Juutilainen. He was credited with a total of 94 aerial victories during the Winter and Continuation wars. Juutilainen was awarded the Knights of the Mannerheim Cross 2nd Class two times, on 26 April 1942 and on 28 June 1944. During his 437 combat missions he flew the Fokker D.XXI, the Brewster F2A Buffalo (BW-364 “Oranssi 4”) and the Messerschmitt Bf 109.
Flight Master Ilmari Juutilainen survived the war and died at Tuusula Health Center on his 85th birthday on 21 February 1999.
The Heroes’ Cemetery
The Heroes’ Cemetery was established on the section between the church and lake Tuusula and holds the graves of 138 soldiers and one Lotta (Hilda Paju, 1913-1943) who died in the Winter War (1939-1940) and the Continuation War (1941-1944). Although the earliest plans for the cemetery date from 1940, the final design was realised by garden architect Ola Mannström between 1947 and 1952, together with the monument “The Path of no Return” by Rakel Koivisto. The monument was inaugurated on 24 May 1953, on the annual Finnish Memorial Day.
The above memorial bears the inscription: “Siunaus heille viime levossaan, Varjele Jumala vapaus Synnyinmaan.”
A translation is: “Bless them in their final rest; protect, O God, the freedom of the homeland.”
A separate name plaque (picture above) commemorates 34 men who were killed in action but whose remains were never recovered: 14 from the Winter War (left) and 20 from the Continuation War (right).
Visit
The cemetery can be visited freely during the daytime. Just outside the fence of the cemetery is the Pro Patria – Nimikirja monument which you could combine with your visit.
Sources
- jaakkoharjuvaara.fi
- marskinritarit.fi
- tuusulanseurakunta.fi
- sankarihautausmaat.fi
- sa-kuva.fi
