Pernå Church

Pernå Church (view from the northwest)

The church of Pernå is a medieval stone church in the former municipality Pernå (Pernaja) in southern Finland , which is part of the city today Loviisa is. It dates from the 15th century and is dedicated to the Archangel Michael and Saint Erik . It serves as the parish church of the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Pernå, one of five parishes in the Loviisa community.

history

West gable of Pernå Church

The first wooden church in Pernå was probably built around 1300. 1398 the community in a letter from Pope Boniface IX. invited to participate in renovating the old church or building a new church. The exact date of construction of today's church is unknown, but based on stylistic features and dendrochronological results it can be assumed that the church was built in the first half of the 15th century. Apparently the sacristy was completed as the first phase of construction after 1410, the rest of the church is believed to have been built around 1440. Clear similarities with other medieval stone churches in eastern Uusimaa indicate that the church of Pernå was built by the so-called “Master of Pernå”, the same builder who also built the cathedral of Porvoo , the Church of St. Lawrence in Vantaa and the churches von Sipoo , Pyhtää and Vehkalahti .

Building description

View from the southeast

Pernå Church has been preserved in its medieval form very well. It consists of a rectangular nave with dimensions of 32 × 16.5 meters, to which a sacristy is attached to the north and an armory to the south . The field stone masonry is plastered white on the outside. The west gable of the nave and the gable of the armory are decorated with brick ornaments. Pernå Church does not have a steeple , but the church bells are housed in a free-standing bell stack from 1853.

The nave of the church has three aisles . The main nave is divided into six star vaults , the side aisles into six cross vaults each.

interior

The walls and vaults of the church are decorated with medieval Secco paintings. The paintings were probably whitewashed as early as the 17th century and exposed again in the 1930s. The stained glass in the church is from 1939. The church inventory includes four medieval wooden sculptures.

literature

Markus Hiekkanen: Suomen keskiajan kivikirkot (= Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia 1117). Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 2007, ISBN 978-951-746-861-9 , pp. 450-453.

Web links

Commons : Pernå Church - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Pernå Church in the Finnish Museum Authority's Farmers Register