Teijo Ironworks

The Teijo Ironworks, founded in 1686, now houses a diverse cultural and historical service complex, with several exhibition spaces, a café and shops offering plenty to see and experience for both casual tourists and those who are specifically visiting the area. All of this in a historic maritime ironworks environment, not forgetting the Teijo National Park, whose unique nature is just a short walk away.

The most culturally and historically significant sights in the Teijo area are located right in the centre of the village of Teijo: the Teijo Church, completed in 1829, the smallest stone church in Finland, the Teijo Manor, completed in 1770 and considered the most beautiful Rococo building in Finland, with its outbuildings, and the ironworks’ old blast furnace from 1801. Just a stone’s throw away is the fabulous Sahajärvi Nature Park, also known as the pearl of the Teijo National Park. The Sahajärvi area is the old Teijonkartano park, where you can find not only special plant and tree species, but also old ironworks dam and ruined structures.

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Contact

ERIH Member

South-West Regional route

Teijon ruukki
Telakkatie 17
25570 TEIJO

Kohokohdat

History

Teijo, located in the city of Salo in southwestern Finland, on the eastern shore of Halikonlahti Bay, has been known in history as a magnificent nobleman’s manor since the Middle Ages. It became one of the most significant cradles of Finnish industrial development in the late 17th century when Lorentz Creutz the Younger, the governor of Turku and Pori County, founded an ironworks there with the permission of the King of Sweden. At its peak, the iron production of Teijo’s blast furnace was the second largest in Finland in terms of quantity. Raw iron was produced in Teijo and transported for further processing to the forges
and to the nearby Kirjakkala and, from the mid-19th century, Mathildedal production plants. The operations covered all three villages and Teijo was almost its own kingdom with over 5,000 hectares of land.

The current main building of the manor was completed in 1770, when the mountain councilor Johan Jakob Kijk managed the Teijo ironworks and its large estates. The Rococo-style stone building was designed by the then Turku city architect Christoffer Friedrich Schröder, who also designed the Fagervik and Lempisaari manors and the first plans for the Mustio ironworks manor. As a landmark on a hill in the middle of the village, the pagoda-style church, built in 1829 by the ironworks patron Robert Bremer, is the smallest stone-built church in Finland.

Blast furnace blowing ended in 1908 and the transformation into an industrial plant focusing on the further processing of iron began. During the first half of the 20th century, Teijo Works became best known for the production of agricultural tools and machinery, especially threshing machines. It can be said that Teijo played a significant role in the mechanization of Finnish agriculture in the post-war period.

The area’s strong industrial history continues to this day. Today, Teijo also has a vibrant business park in the old building stock, where products from fittings to ships are manufactured and over two hundred people work. The cultural history of the area, which is now part of the city of Salo, the Teijo National Park formed from the old lands of the manor, and the rich tourist services of the ironworks villages make Teijo one of the most attractive destinations in Southern Finland.