The Rovaniemi Church ( fi, Rovaniemen kirkko) 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 * Chris ...

located in the city center of

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

in Lapland,

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 ...

. The 850-seat church, designed by architect Bertel Liljequist, was completed in 1950. The earlier church building, completed in 1817, was burnt down by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

during the

Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...

on October 16, 1944. The specialties of the church include a Christian cross on the roof, which is lit with a red

neon light Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode at ...

(only visible at night). The choice of color once sparked widespread debate. The color of the cross is red because of its symbolic meaning: "Bloody Cross on top of the Promissory Note." During 2005, Rovaniemi Church was renovated. The most visible change was the renewal of the water cover made copper. The large

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

(14 meters high and 11 meters wide) was made by Professor Lennart Segerstråle in 1951. The work is called ''Elämän lähde'' ("The Source of Life").Juha Vartiainen: ''Alttaritauluja Suomen kirkoista'', p. 119–120. 2008. . (in Finnish)

References

External links

Rovaniemen kirkko - Rovaniemen seurakunta
(in Finnish)
Rovaniemen kirkko - Museovirasto
(in Finnish)
Rovaniemi Church, Rovaniemi – Discovering Finland
20th-century churches in Finland 20th-century Lutheran churches Buildings and structures in Lapland (Finland) Churches completed in 1950 Lutheran churches in Finland Rovaniemi {{finland-church-stub