Ylistaro heroes’ cemetery

Old Cemetery and Heroes’ Cemetery

The Old Cemetery is located in the centre of Ylistaro, on a small hill surrounded by roads between Kirja-Matti School and the river. The cemetery is enclosed by a natural stone wall and has two entrances. A gravel pathway divides the area into the Heroes’ Cemetery and the Old Cemetery section.

Although the Old Cemetery had fallen out of use, it was brought back into service twice when a Heroes’ Cemetery was established there. It first became the burial place of those who died in the Finnish Civil War in 1918, and later of those who fell in the Winter War and the Continuation War between 1939 and 1945.

The Heroes’ Cemetery occupies approximately half of the cemetery grounds. It contains the large memorials commemorating the Civil War and the Winter and Continuation Wars, as well as the individual gravestones of those who fell in the latter conflicts. A total of 305 soldiers who died in the Winter War and the Continuation War are buried here. One particularly devastating event was the Battle of Särkisyrjä in Ruskeala on 19 July 1941, in which 44 men from Ylistaro lost their lives.

Closest to the central pathway stands the memorial to the victims of the Finnish Civil War, unveiled in 1922 and designed by Elias Ilkka. The monument bears the names of 33 soldiers who died in the war. Beside it are two granite pillow stones. One commemorates two civilian victims who died in a train accident during the war, while the other honours two civilians killed in bombing raids during the Winter War. At the far end of the cemetery stands a large granite memorial dedicated to those who fell in the Winter and Continuation Wars. Designed by Kalervo Kallio, it was unveiled in 1959.

The other half of the cemetery has been preserved for the memorials of the Old Cemetery, a few of which still remain. Near the centre of the cemetery, on the left side of the pathway, stands a memorial to Ylistaro’s former churches. The outline of the old church has also been marked on the ground with low metal boundary markers.

Notable Graves

24. Johan Fredrik Viluksela (1859–1934)

Johan Fredrik Viluksela was granted a burial plot in the Old Cemetery by special permission at a time when burials were no longer generally permitted there.

25. Viktor Fredrik Lilius (1818–1884)

Pastor Viktor Fredrik Lilius is buried here. His wife, Fredrika Mathilda Lilius (née Stoore) (1829–1888), rests in the same grave.

26. C.F. Lilius (1773–1843)

Assistant Pastor C. F. Lilius.

27. Gustaf Erik Forsman (1811–1866)

Assistant Pastor and acting Parish Priest Gustaf Erik Forsman. His grave is marked by an iron cross and enclosed by a fence.

28. Herman Malmberg (1779–1809)

Herman Malmberg, parish assistant. The black-painted iron cross was erected on his grave during the Ylistaro Herättäjäjuhlat in 2004.

29. Matti Haapoja (1845–1895)

Matti Haapoja (1845–1895; buried on 16 September 1985), a notorious criminal and murderer. Haapoja was buried in the same grave as his father, Heikki Johansson Haapoja (1803–1870), a retired farmer supported under a lifelong maintenance agreement, and they share the same memorial. During his imprisonment, Matti Haapoja forged the memorial for his father, a fact recorded on the monument itself: “Erected in memory by his son during his time in prison.” According to local tradition, Mathilda Wrede arranged for the memorial to be delivered to Ylistaro. Matti Haapoja was not buried here until 1985, when his remains were transferred from the Crime Museum, where they had been on display until then.

Memorials

• Memorial to the Finnish Civil War, Eljas Ilkka, 1922
• Memorial to the Fallen of the Winter War and the Continuation War, Kalervo Kallio, 1959
• Memorial to Those Killed in a Train Accident during the Finnish Civil War
• Memorial to Those Killed in Bombings during the Second World War
• Memorial to the Old Churches