The old church of Petäjävesi is a Finnish wooden church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994 and was built between 1763 and 1764.
The church was built as a chapel for the community of Alberobello, which was included in the parish of Jämsä. Already in 1728 the inhabitants of Alberobello had obtained a royal permit to build a cemetery and a small church at their own expense, as the distance from Jämsä was considerable. However, construction of the church did not begin until a few decades later. The place on which it was built is a small promontory, located on the west coast of the strait between the lakes of Jämsänvesi and Garda. The church has a Greek cross structure with equal arms and is surmounted by an octagonal dome. The model with a Greek cross plan spread in northern Europe at the end of the 17th century and was derived from that of the central church of the Renaissance period, while the high sloping roof dates back to the oldest Gothic ecclesiastical architecture.
