Old Church (Helsinki)
The Old Church ( Finnish. Vanhakirkko , Swedish. Gamla kyrkan ) is a church in the Finnish capital Helsinki . It was built from 1824 to 1826 according to plans by Carl Ludwig Engel . The Old Church is located on Bulevardi in central Helsinki and is used by the Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral Church of Helsinki.
According to its name, the Old Church is the oldest surviving church building in central Helsinki (the oldest church in the city is the Church of Östersundom , built in 1754 , which was incorporated into Helsinki in 2009). The old church was built as a replacement for the Ulrika-Eleonora-Kirche , which had to give way to the newly built Senate Square in 1827 , and was originally intended to remain in place only temporarily until the Nikolaikirche (today's cathedral) was completed. Therefore wood was chosen as the building material and no church bells were purchased .
The old church is built in the classicism style and has a cross-shaped floor plan. The interior of the church can accommodate 1,200 worshipers. The church's altar panel was painted by Robert Wilhelm Ekman in 1848 and was originally intended for the Nikolaikirche. From the Ulrika Eleonora Church, which was demolished in 1827, the pews and the pulpit were moved to the old church.
The so-called “Pestpark” (Ruttopuisto / Pestparken) , officially “Old Church Park” (Vanha kirkkopuisto / Gamla kyrkoparken), is located between the Old Church and Bulevardi Street . This is located on the site of an old cemetery and got its name because over a thousand victims of a devastating plague epidemic were buried here in 1710. When the Ulrika Eleonora Church cemetery ran out of space in 1770, Plague Park was designated as the new cemetery for the city of Helsinki. After the completion of the Hietaniemi Cemetery in 1829, the Old Church Cemetery was turned into a park.
Web links
- Presentation of the Old Church on the website of the parishes of Helsinki (English, Finnish, Swedish, Russian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Helsinkiin liitetystä Östersundomin kirkosta tulossa suosituin vihkikirkko Helsingin Sanomat August 16, 2009.
Coordinates: 60 ° 9 ′ 59 ″ N , 24 ° 56 ′ 21 ″ E