Kitee

We've been to Kitee many times to home teach but never stopped in the town. This time we stopped at a Marimekko factory outlet and the Kitee parish church. The outlet was just as high priced as Marimekko is in the retail outlets. According to the brochure we picked up the Kitee parish is over 350 years old and has about 8600 members. The church has room for 1500 people. On average 180 people attend a the service. A few times a year the church is full. In general, Finns pay just under 2% tax to support the state church. This is the 4th or 5th church to be built on the site. The others were desroyed by fire. The stone church was completed in 1886.