Espoo Cathedral (, ) is a medieval parish church and cathedral in

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It is the seat of the

Evangelical Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Diocese of Espoo, established in 2004. The cathedral is located in the district of Espoon keskus, near the Espoonjoki river. The oldest parts of the church were completed in the 1480s and it is thus the oldest preserved building in the city. The church became a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

in 2004 after the Diocese of Espoo was split off from the Diocese of Helsinki. The cathedral grounds include a graveyard, a vicarage and a parish hall completed in 1995. In addition to being the seat of the Diocese of Espoo, it serves as the church for the Espoo Cathedral Parish and hosts various concerts and other events including the "Organ Night and Aria" concert series.

History

The church was originally designed in the late 15th century by an unknown "Espoo master" and built between 1485 and 1490 under his supervision. The only remaining parts of the medieval church are the eastern and western parts of the nave. The weapons room was removed between 1804 and 1806 and certain other parts of the church, including the original

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

, were taken apart between 1821 and 1823 when the building was converted into a more spacious cruciform church. The vaults and walls of the older parts of the cathedral are decorated with murals, largely painted in the 1510s, that depict both biblical scenes and events in the daily life of the people. The paintings were covered in the 18th century as they were thought to be "crude and superstitious" but uncovered again and conserved during renovations in 1931. The current

campanile 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 to ...

of the cathedral was completed in 1767 and its top part was redone between 1868 and 1869.

Image gallery

File:Espoo_cathedral_fresco.jpeg, Fresco File:Espoo_Cathedral_frescos.jpg, Frescos File:Espoo_Cathedral_interior1.JPG, Interior File:Espoo_cathedral_pulpit.JPG, Pulpit File:Espoo_Cathedral_interior2.JPG, Organ File:Espoo_tuomiokirkko,_urut,_organ.jpg, Organ File:Espoo_cathedral_vault.JPG, Vault File:Espoo_Cathedral_interior1.JPG, View from pew

References

External links

History
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1490 Churches completed in the 1490s 15th-century churches in Finland Buildings and structures in Espoo Lutheran cathedrals in Finland Gothic architecture in Finland Tourist attractions in Uusimaa Medieval stone churches in Finland

History

Image gallery

References

Further reading

External links