The Church of the Holy Cross ( fi, Pyhän Ristin kirkko, sv, Heliga korsets kyrka) is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

fieldstone church A fieldstone church (german: Feldsteinkirche) is a type of church, built using fieldstone of glacial erratics and glacial rubble. Such cathedrals and monasteries occur mostly in areas where the ice ages have deposited such rock material on the on ...

Rauma, Finland Rauma (; sv, Raumo) is a town and municipality of around () inhabitants on the west coast of Finland, north of Turku, and south of Pori. Its neighbouring municipalities are Eura, Eurajoki, Laitila and Pyhäranta. Granted town privileges on 17 ...

. It is located in the

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Old Rauma Old Rauma ( fi, Vanha Rauma, sv, Gamla Raumo) is the wooden centre of the town of Rauma, Finland. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1991 because of its unique wooden architecture and its well-preserved medieval town layout. It ...

. The church stands by the small

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

of Raumanjoki (Rauma river). The exact age of the Church of the Holy Cross is unknown, but it was built to serve as the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

church of the Rauma Franciscan Friary. The monastery had been established in the early 15th century and a wooden church was built on this location around the year 1420. Historians assume the current stone church was completed in 1515–1520. The Church of the Holy Cross served the monastery until 1538, when it was abandoned for a hundred years as the Franciscan friary was disbanded in the

Swedish Reformation The Reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and did not end definitively until the Uppsala Synod of 1593 and the following War against Sigismund, with ...

. The church was re-established as a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

church in 1640, when the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed by fire. The church itself is a two-aisle church made of grey granite. The choir features

fresco-secco Fresco-secco (or a secco or fresco finto) is a wall painting technique where pigments mixed with an organic binder and/or lime are applied onto a dry plaster. The paints used can e.g. be casein paint, tempera, oil paint, silicate mineral paint. I ...

style murals depicting the Biblical story of salvation. The paintings are from the time of

Arvid Kurck Arvid Kurck (also known as Arvid Kurki; 1464 in Vesilahti – 22 July 1522 in Öregrund) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Turku from 1510 to 1522.Bishop of Turku The Archdiocese of Turku ( fi, Turun arkkihiippakunta, sv, Åbo ärkestift), historically known as '' Archdiocese of Åbo'', is the seat of the Archbishop of Turku. It is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and its see city is ...

1510–1522. The

Bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

was built in 1816. It was made of stones from the ruins of the Church of the Holy Trinity. The white steeple used to serve as a landmark for seafarers.Rauma Town
Retrieved 17 September 2013.

References

External links

(in Finnish) {{Commons-inline, Holy Cross Church, Rauma, Church of the Holy Cross, Rauma Medieval stone churches in Finland Buildings and structures in Rauma, Finland World Heritage Sites in Finland Church frescos in Finland Lutheran churches in Finland Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism