Location
Vörå is a municipality in Ostrobothnia and is located approximately 35 km northeast from Vaasa. Vörå was mentioned for the first time already in 1367 and Vörå parish in 1443. The municipality has 6 300 residents of which 80 % speak Swedish as their first language and approximately 13 % have Finnish as their mother tongue.
The conference venue is located in a rural area, just 3 km outside the centre of Vörå. From the conference venue you can see the local lutheran church, which is the oldest wooden church in Finland. The church was built in 1626.
Even though the name of the municipality is found in documents from the 14th century and the church was built in the 17th century, Vörå's history is even longer. It is said that there are a lot of archeological findings dating back to the stone age. On Grannasberget, one of the highest hills in Vörå, you can find a Greek inspired park and a viking ship, with a copy of the text written on a rune stone in Vörå. It is still debated, however, whether that rune stone is from the viking age or not, since the place of the finding is atypical and the writing itself differs from the typical runes.