The Finlayson Church ( fi, Finlaysonin kirkko; sv, Finlaysons kyrka) is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

built in Gothic Revival style located in the Finlayson industrial area in the district by the same name in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It was built in 1879 as the church of the Finlayson cotton factory, where the factory workers could practice religion. Currently the church belongs to the Evangelical-Lutheran congregations of Tampere, and it is used as a children's road church and a popular church for

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

History

The church was built for the use of the Finlayson factory workers in 1879. It was built primarily as a place to practice religion, but the first working day of the year was started with a service there right until the 1970s. The Finlayson factory workers founded their own congregation from 1846 to 1860. The factory had its own

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, a factory preacher right until 1982. The factory gave the church away and the lot it stands on for free to the Evangelist-Lutheran congregation in Tampere in 1981. A condition for the transfer was that the church must continue to be called the Finlayson Church.

Architecture

The church was designed by the city architect of Tampere at the time, Frans Ludvig Calonius. The material for the church's facade is clean red brick. It resembles an English

congregationalist church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

in that the preaching chair and the organ are unusually located behind the altar. The church also has no kind of altar table or sculpture whatsoever. The church used to have benches stretching the full width of its hallway, but these were later separated into two parts by a corridor in the middle. The church's organ was built by the company

William Hill & Son William Hill & Son was one of the main organ builders in England during the 19th century. The founder William Hill was born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire in 1789. He married Mary, the daughter of organ-builder Thomas Elliot, on 30 October 1818 i ...

in the 1850, and they were brought to the church from

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, in 1879. The church was repaired from September 2007 to late summer 2008. The plank floor was replaced with a plate floor. The church's colour was also changed to a darker shade.

Current activity

The church is currently owned by the Evangelist-Lutheran congregation of Tampere. The church seats 280 people. The Finlayson Church is used as the only children's church in Finland. The children's altars have a Children's Bible, and next to it are installations depicting various biblical events. As the church was built as a prayer room, it does not hold a regular Sunday service. Because of its central location, small size and pleasant architecture, the church is one of the most popular wedding churches in Tampere.

Sources

Tampereen seurakunnat: Finlaysonin kirkko
Accessed on 28 May 2008.

External links

Finlayson Church
(architectural heritage registry) ''Kulttuuriympäristön rekisteriportaali''. The Finnish Museum Bureau.

by the Finlaysonin alue site
A description of the Finlayson Church
by Tampere-opas {{Tampere Cityscape Buildings and structures in Tampere Lutheran churches in Finland Churches completed in 1879