Juutila Foundry is the oldest working bell foundryinFinland. Juutila foundry was founded in 1881.
Juutila Foundry (Juutilan valimoorMetallivalimo H & E Juutilainen in Finnish) is situated in the village of Vehkalahti in Kaavi, Northern Savonia.
Juutila Foundry Museum is in the old foundry building. It is a unique museum in the Nordic countries introducing the traditional sand casting method of the foundry.[3]
Juutila Foundry casts products out of bronze and brass. The foundry can make single pieces up to 500 kg (about 1100 lb).
The different kinds of bells and mortars and pestles were one of the main products in the early history of the foundry. The products of Juutila were originally sold as far as in Vyborg and SortavalainKarelia.[4] Some of the products found their way even to St. Petersburg.[5]
In the 1940s the foundry made a large number of school bells. Five men were working in the foundry then. In the 1960s Juutila Foundry started to make church bells, which became the main products in the 1980s and 1990s.[6] Nowadays Juutila Foundry manufactures about half a dozen church bells annually.[7]
For its first hundred years the foundry operated in an old workshop. The new foundry building of brick was built in 1982.
Mr Eljas Juutilainen (August 4, 1947 – March 6, 2019[2]) carried on the tradition of his forebears by sand casting. The craft of casting and foundry work came to Juutila farm with Juutilainen's grandfather's uncle from nearby Juankoski ironworks. The history of Juutila Foundry dates back to 1881.
At the beginning of the new millennium they decided to establish a foundry museum to preserve the foundry's history. With the expertise of the Finnish National Board of Antiquities the items of the old foundry were counted. They listed almost 2,000 objects from the foundry.[5]
The old foundry got a new location in the other side of the yard, and it became a museum introducing especially the traditional sand casting method of the foundry.[3][26]
Juutila Foundry Museum was opened in 2004. It is open in summer.[3][6]
^ abcdMolempikätisyys, lehmän hermot ja pikkutarkkuus ovat hyvän valajan ominaisuuksia, Koillis-Savo (newspaper), November 19, 2015, page 11 (in Finnish)
^[6] Seurakunnan pääkirkko, Kontiolahden seurakunta, January 12, 2013 (in Finnish)
^ ab[7] Lappalainen, Katja, Arkipäiväisistä katseilta suojatuiksi – Nilsiän emäseurakunnan alueen kirkonkellot, pdf, 2006, University of Jyväskylä, January 12, 2013 (in Finnish)
^[10] Pinsiöön rakennetaan kellotapuli talkoilla, December 22, 2011, Yle, January 12, 2013 (in Finnish)
^"Raahen Matkailuoppaat ry". Archived from the original on 2013-02-17. Retrieved 2013-01-12. Kotikirkkomme, December 17, 2005, Raahelainen (newspaper), January 12, 2013 (in Finnish)
^[11]Archived 2016-03-11 at the Wayback Machine Toimitilat, Kirkko ja kellotapuli, Ristijärven seurakunta, January 13, 2014 (in Finnish)
^[12]Archived 2014-01-14 at the Wayback Machine Ristijärven kirkko 200 vuotta -
Ristijärvelle rakennettiin kirkko kesällä 1807, Ristijärvi tiedottaa, pdf, 2007, Ristijärven kunta, January 13, 2014 (in Finnish)
