Temppeliaukio Church
Lutheran church quarried into solid rock in Töölö, roofed with a coiled copper dome.
Temppeliaukio Church, widely known as the Rock Church, was excavated into a granite outcrop on a Töölö square that had resisted building since the nineteenth century. The brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen won a second architectural competition for the site in 1961 with a proposal that left the rock largely intact and sank the church into it. Work began in 1968 and the church was consecrated in September 1969. Only a low entrance front and the dome are visible from the surrounding streets.
Inside, the rough blasted rock forms the walls, and a shallow dome about 24 metres across is made from some 22 kilometres of coiled copper strip, separated from the rock by a ring of 180 concrete-set glazing bars that admit daylight. The exposed stone gives the interior unusually long reverberation, and the church is used for concerts and recordings as well as Lutheran services. The organ, built by Veikko Virtanen, has more than 3,000 pipes. It is among the most visited sights in Helsinki.
Highlights
- Church blasted out of a granite outcrop and consecrated in 1969
- Shallow dome coiled from roughly 22 kilometres of copper strip
- Rough rock walls giving a long, concert-friendly reverberation
- Veikko Virtanen organ with more than 3,000 pipes
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