Matti Åkerblom ( Pärnä; 18 July 1740, Eräjärvi — 10 June 1819,

Orivesi Orivesi () is a town in Finland, located in the Pirkanmaa region. It lies to the northeast of the regional capital, Tampere. The population of Orivesi is approximately , while the Tampere metropolitan area, metropolitan area has a population of ...

) was a notable Finnish church designer and builder of the late 18th century, who also held the office of the regional

master builder A master builder or master mason is a central figure leading construction projects in pre-modern times (a combination of a modern expert carpenter, construction site supervisor, and architect / engineer). Historically, the term has generally ref ...

of the Province of Tavastia. Halikon kirkko Kellotapuli

Åkerblom first worked as a farm hand, but later decided to train as a carpenter, learning his trade under

Antti Piimänen Antti (Anders) Piimänen (1712 in Turku — 16 October 1775 in Turku) was a notable 18th-century Finnish church designer and master builder, considered the originator of the 'long church' (''pitkäkirkko'') style characteristic of much of the S ...

. His training took unusually long, with the

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

and

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

ship stages each lasting five years, before he completed his master work, the

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 to ...

Halikko Church Halikko Church (, ) is an Evangelical Lutheran church (building), church in Halikko, Finland. The first parts of the church were built in the 13th century, and Halikko Church is one of the 73 Medieval stone churches in Finland, medieval stone chur ...

, in 1773. The master work had not been sanctioned by the

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

, but when completed it was nevertheless approved, thus gaining Åkerblom his mastership. Notable churches built by Åkerblom include

Nurmijärvi Church Nurmijärvi () is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Nurmijärvi is situated in the Uusimaa region. The population of Nurmijärvi is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, mun ...

, Pihlajavesi Old Church, (completed a year before Åkerblom's master status), and , among others: in total, Åkerblom is known to have designed and built at least ten churches and five bell towers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Åkerblom, Matti 1740 births 1819 deaths People from Orivesi Finnish architects