The Temple of Lemminkäinen ( fi, Lemminkäisen temppeli) is a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

in the village of Gumbostrand, located in

Sipoo Sipoo (; sv, Sibbo) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The administrative center of the munic ...

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 is said to contain an underground temple depicted in ''The Bock Saga'', a collection of stories by

Ior Bock Ior Bock (; originally Bror Holger Svedlin; 17 January 1942 – 23 October 2010) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish tour guide, actor, mythologist and eccentric. Bock was a colourful media personality and became a very popular tour guide at the isl ...

: according to Bock, the entrance to the temple is located under a rock that Bock calls ''Kyypelivuori''. The name of the cave refers to

Lemminkäinen Lemminkäinen () or Lemminki () is a prominent figure in Finnish mythology. He is one of the heroes of the ''Kalevala'', where his character is a composite of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good-loo ...

, a figure in

Finnish mythology Finnish mythology is a commonly applied description of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many features shared with Estonian and other Finnic mythologies, ...

and one of the main characters in the ''

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...

.Temple of Lemminkäinen
- Staycation in Helsinki According to Bock, the entrance to the temple was closed in 987, when

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

arrived in

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, He ...

and pagan sites had to be hidden. During excavations carried out between 1987 and 1999, a tunnel about 50 meters long was opened under the rock, but no temple was found. Due to lack of money, the excavation was not continued. The

Finnish Heritage Agency The Finnish Heritage Agency ( fi, Museovirasto, sv, Museiverket), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a ...

characterises the site as a natural formation and does not believe that anything of

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

significance can be found there. Marcus Lundqvist, a member of the Tempelberg Association, has found an ax blade at the bottom of the excavated cave, which, according to the Finnish Heritage Agency, may date from the 12th century. In the summer of 2007, the excavation project was scheduled to continue, but it did not materialise. Juha Javanainen, the editor of Bock's book, said in October 2010 that he hoped that the excavation could start again some day. Carl Borgen, who has published several books about Bock's claims, stated that a group of treasure hunters known as the "Temple Twelve" would continue to dig in the summer of 2022.Jon Rogers:
Treasure hunters believe they’re close to the Lemminkainen Hoard in Finland, worth $27 billion
. ''

news.com.au news.com.au is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance, and sport. Staff The organiza ...

'', 10 November 2021.

References

External links

Ior Bock ja Lemminkäisen temppeli
at Yle Elävä Arkisto (in Finnish)
Sipoon aarteenetsijät
at Yle Uutiset (in Finnish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Temple of Lemminkainen Archaeological sites in Finland Caves of Finland Pseudohistory Sipoo

See also

References

External links