Kallio Church ( Finnish: ''Kallion kirkko'', Swedish: ''Berghälls kyrka'') is a

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 ...

church in the

Kallio Kallio (; ; literally " the rock") is a district and a neighbourhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, located on the eastern side of the Helsinki peninsula about one kilometre north from the city centre. It is one of the most densely pop ...

district of

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

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 was designed by

Lars Sonck Lars Eliel Sonck (10 August 1870 – 14 March 1956) was a Finnish architect. He was a prominent figure in early 20th-century Finnish architecture, known for his role in developing the National Romantic and later Nordic Classicism movements in ...

and represents

National Romanticism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

with

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

influences. The National Romantic style appears in the use of traditional Finnish materials and in the church's massive, gray granite body, as well as in nature-inspired colours and decorative motifs. Completed in 1912, the church is one of Helsinki's most prominent landmarks. Its excellent acoustics make it a popular venue for concerts, especially for

organ music The organ repertoire is considered to be the largest and oldest repertory of all musical instruments. Because of the organ's (or pipe organ's) prominence in worship in Western Europe from the Middle Ages on, a significant portion of organ reper ...

History

Construction began on Kallio Church when its

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid on July 13, 1908. The church was inaugurated by Bishop Herman Råbergh on September 1, 1912. In 1917, when Finland was gaining its independence, the

Tolstoyan movement The Tolstoyan movement () is a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). Tolstoy's views were formed by rigorous study of the ministry of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the ...

adopted the church as their base and preached their message of peace there. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

there was an air surveillance station in the church tower. Until the 1970s the tower served as a

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The station is usually set up by a map ...

for

land surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...

Description

The church is 65 metres high, and its cross is 94 metres above sea level. The

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n coastline can be seen from the tower. The church is on a hill, and it forms the northern end point of a 2.5 km long street axis made up of three streets, Kopernikuksenkatu, Siltasaarenkatu, and

Unioninkatu Unioninkatu (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Unionsgatan'', both meaning "Union Street") is one of the key streets in the historic centre of Helsinki, Finland. It stretches from the Tähtitorninvuori hill to the Pitkäsilta bridge and is about 1. ...

. Kallio Church is a

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

with a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

. The load-bearing walls are built of red bricks and clad in Finnish

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

. There is seating for 1.100 worshippers. The interior of the church is decorated with

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

symbols such as roses, lilies, palm branches, laurel crowns and pearls to pass on the message of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

s. There are also Art Nouveau

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s inside the church. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

is a wooden

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

‘Tulkaa minun tyköni’ (‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened’) by Hannes Autere, carved in 1956. In the vestibule of the church and in the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

galleries there are four plaster reliefs from

Sigrid af Forselles Sigrid af Forselles (1860—1935) was a Finnish sculptor, notable for being one of the first professional female sculptors of the country. Early life and education Sigrid af Forselles was born to an upper-class family of minor nobility; her fa ...

’ five-part series ''Ihmissielun kehitys'' (‘Development of the human soul’)''.'' In the

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 ...

there's a painting by Verner Thomé, depicting

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

healing a blind man. Paavo Tynell designed the massive brass lamps in 1932. The church textiles currently in use are designed by Raija Rastas. There are seven German bronze bells in the granite tower of the church. Each day at noon and at 6 pm, the

chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...

'' The Bells of Kallio Church'' (, JS 102) by

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

, composed for the church's 1912 consecration ceremony, is played on four of the bells. He also arranged this piece for piano, as well as for

mixed choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

(each Op. 65b). The three largest bells ring to announce church services.

Pipe organs

Kallio Church has both a

Neo-Baroque Neo-Baroque may refer to: * Neo-Baroque music * Neo-Baroque painting, a painting style used by Christo Coetzee and others *Baroque Revival architecture * Neo-Baroque film *the Organ reform movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' ...

and a French-style Romantic revival organ. The French-Romantic organ was made by the Swedish organ maker Åkerman & Lund in 1995 and serves as the main organ of the church. The smaller Neo-Baroque organ was built by

Kangasala is a town in Finland, located in the Pirkanmaa region. It lies to the east of the regional capital, Tampere. The population of Kangasala is approximately , while the Tampere metropolitan area, metropolitan area has a population of approximat ...

Organ Factory, Finland in 1987. Kallio Church organ

Columbarium

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

under the church was completed in 1991. There is room for around 2500

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape ...

s at a time, and the urns can be kept in the columbarium for a fixed period. After that, they can be concealed in a sepulchre, also situated under the church. The columbarium can only be visited when an urn is taken there. Visitors can bring flowers or light candles by the memorial for the departed, which can be found on the back wall of the church, beside the main entrance.

References

{{Authority control Lutheran churches in Helsinki Churches completed in 1912 Lars Sonck buildings Kallio Art Nouveau architecture in Helsinki National Romantic architecture in Finland Art Nouveau church buildings in Finland 1912 establishments in Finland 20th-century churches in Finland 20th-century Lutheran churches

History

Description

Pipe organs

Columbarium

See also

References