Aspö
Encyclopedia
Aspö is a small village on the Aspö Island in Väståboland
Väståboland
Väståboland is a municipality of Finland, in the Archipelago Sea. The big limestone mine in Pargas is the base of the main industry, while there is still significant rural areas. Except the central parts of Pargas the municipality is mostly rural....

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. Until 2009 it belonged to the municipality of Korpo
Korpo
Korpo is a former municipality of Finland. On 1 January 2009, it was consolidated with Houtskär, Iniö, Nagu and Pargas to form the new town of Väståboland.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region...

. Its Finnish-language
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

 name is Haapasaari, although this name is seldom used. The village is known for its white limestone church that has a red brick roof. The current church was built in 1955–1956; however, a church has existed in the place since the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. The old church was destroyed in a storm in 1949.

History

The commercially seafaring vikings landed to Aspö during the Viking period, 800 - 1050 AD. On the 13th century it served also as a harbour for the tradesmen. The trade route was laid between Tallinn and Denmark. In the beginning of the 20th century there lived only about 30 persons on Aspö. Now there lives only about 10 persons.

During World war I until 1917, Aspö served as Russian naval military watchpost. In 1944 it served as the German navy base as the Germans were not allowed to anchor on Aland proper.

In the 1910s the Russians had a patrol station on the island. In the 1940s it was used as a harbour for submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s. On the contrary to the year of 1941, on 1944 the Finns allowed instead of Aland proper, the German navy to use only Aspö and Nötö
Noto
Noto is a city and comune in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily . Its located 32 km southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains and gives its name to the surrounding valley, Val di Noto...

 as the naval base Rotbuche as there was a suspicion of the Tanne West operation which would had led to the German occupation of Aland Islands. The question became actual from 20th June to 27th June, when the president of the republic of Finland, mr. Risto Ryti
Risto Ryti
Risto Heikki Ryti was the fifth President of Finland, from 1940 to 1944. Ryti started his career as a politician in the field of economics and as a political background figure during the interwar period. He made a wide range of international contacts in the world of banking and within the...

 and the foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...

 negotiated the terms continuing the war after the German arms export embargo in since April, 1944 due to the negotiations of peace with the Soviet union. A heavy naval detachement was sent via Utö
Utö
Utö may refer to:* Utö, Finland, an island in the Archipelago Sea, in southwest Finland* Utö, Sweden, an island in the Stockholm archipelago in Sweden...

 towards Aspö.

A ship called M/S Eivor transports passengers between Aspö and Nagu
Nagu
Nagu is a former municipality of Finland. On 1 January 2009, it was consolidated with Houtskär, Iniö, Korpo and Pargas to form the new town of Väståboland....

.

Many men on Aspö work as maritime pilots and the women serve on the tourist branch. As for the tourist attractions there is a new chapel built 1955-1956. The chapel has been built several times since 1696, in the years 1728, 1850 and 1905. Aspö-Eik had played folk music which tradition is taken care of Bruno Johansson and his son Tore Johansson. Milking ended in the 1970's, but afterwards there has been broad for the summer times from 10 to 15 cows for tourists to see.
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