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Unveiling the History: Coats of Arms Adorning St. Peter's Church
During nobility's funeral ceremonies, the festivities were adorned with coats of arms and banners of nobility. The coffin was lowered into the grave, but the banners and family coats of arms were often hung on the church walls as decoration and in memory of the deceased. Family coats of arms endured the test of time better than banners, which were often destroyed due to temperature changes and humidity.
In Siuntio church, there were originally a total of 15 family coats of arms on the walls, but only two of them have been preserved to this day. One of the coats of arms belongs to the baronial family Creutz, and the other to Otto Mauritz Krebs.
On the language shield of the Creutz coat of arms, the following text is written: "Ernst Johan Creutz, Baron of Cassaritz, Sjundby, Tamberfors, Gustafsberg, Cristinaeholm, and Helgö. Born in 1619, died on 24.2.1684. Councillor of the Realm and President of the Turku Court of Appeal.
On Otto Mauritz Krebs' coat of arms, it says: "His Majesty's Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel, the Honorable Lord Otto Mauritz Krebs, born on the estate of Obskova in Ingria on August 10, 1683, and peacefully passed away at Sjundby Manor in Nyland on September 12, 1768."
During the church's latest restoration, a third coat of arms was found from the attic of the church. However almost all the color had worn off from the coat of arms. This coat of arms has been identified as belonging to Baron Creutz's mother, Margareta Anrep af Soor. The coat of arms is stored in the parish archives.
It is believed that a significant portion of the coats of arms was removed from the church during the repair work in 1823. Around the larger central coats of arms, there may have been other slightly smaller crests illustrating the ancestry on both the maternal and paternal sides of the owner of the central coat of arms. Around the Creutz coat of arms, the following crests are believed to have existed: Jägerhorn, Wildeman, Frille, Hess von Wichdorff, Hilser af Ekeln, Anrep af Soor, Oberlach von Lanometz, Silfversparre, Bölja, Baner, Fleming, Hand, Horn, Stålhammar, and an unknown coat of arms.
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