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Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

, previous denomination = , churchmanship = , membership = , attendance = , website =
Helsingfors svenska metodistförsamling
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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 ...

, relics = , events = , past bishop = , chaplain = , status = , functional status = active , heritage designation = , designated date = , architect = Atte W.Willberg , architectural type = , style = Neo Gothic , groundbreaking = 19 September 1926 , completed date = 23 September 1928 , construction cost = , closed date = , demolished date = , capacity = 220 , parish = Helsinki - Etu-Töölö , diocese =

Kristuskyrkan (Church of Christ) is a Christian

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 central district of Etu-Töölö (Swedish: ) at the corner between Fänrik Ståls Street and Apollonkatu Street. It was built at the beginning of the twentieth century and it is part of the Swedish Methodist Church of Finland.

Architecture and history

The architectural structure follows simple, austere vertical lines and is a good example of Finnish neo-Gothic style. It was built between 1926 and 1928 according to the designs and the directions of the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Atte V. Willberg to whom the realization of the church was commissioned. The church was consecrated officially with its inaugural mass on 23.9.1928. The 59-meter

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 ...

of the church with its

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

is a distinctive feature of the skyline of the city.

Rose window

In line with the characteristic of

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

, a large

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

is present on the church facade above the main entrance. The beautiful glass-work designed by the artist Lennart Rafael Segerstråle (1892–1975) is titled "Praise to Creation" (in Swedish ). In it the spiritual praise to God's creation is epitomized by the figure of

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

playing the

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

surrounded by floral and vegetable motifs. A circular staircase accessible from the porch's right side leads to the upper loggia inside the church, from which it is possible to admire at a closer distance the intricate design of the glazed window.

The gallery's fresco

Upon entering the church, passing the

vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...

(), and looking up to the ceiling of the gallery, it is possible to admire the

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 ...

painted by

Carl August Henry Ericsson Carl August Henry Ericsson, born 6 February 1898 in St. Michel, Finland, died 16 October 1933 in Borgå, was a Finland, Finnish graphic artist and decorative painter. Henry Ericsson was the son of Lieutenant Alexander Ericsson and Carolina Albe ...

(1898–1933). The work symbolizes the tree of spiritual life whose branches extend all over the world. Around the central figure of the angel, twelve doves are seen flying spreading their wings, crowned by aureoles ( halos). They represent the

twelve apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

with the divine message of salvation for the whole world.

Pipe organ

Located on the upper loggia overlooking the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, the

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

has 15 stops. The instrument was manufactured in the city of

Kangasala Kangasala is a city in Finland which is situated about 16 kilometres East of Tampere. The city was founded in 1865 and had a population of people as of . Kangasala covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Finnish auth ...

by the Kangasala Urkutehdas and designed by the Finnish organist Asko Rautioaho who designed the instrument in such a way that the stained glass window of the façade located behind the organ itself emerges from the profile of the musical instrument and is also visible from the inside of the church.

Gallery

Image:Stained glass azure.png Image:Kristuskyrkan dörr.png Image:Street_leading_to_Kristuskyrkan_in_September_2015.jpg Image:Organo e rosone.jpg Image:Lato.png Image:Abside_con_croce_e_altare_ligneo.png Image:Dettaglio.png Image:Germoglio.jpg Image:Affresco angelo.jpg Image:Finestre gotiche.jpg Image:Finestre_diagonale.jpg

References

{{reflist 20th-century Methodist church buildings Churches in Helsinki Töölö