Medieval stone churches in Finland
Medieval stone churches were built in Finland between the 13th century and the Reformation in the 16th century. A total of 73 such churches have survived today, mostly in the south of the country (see list of medieval stone churches in Finland ). Together with a few medieval castles, they represent the oldest structural fabric in the country, which is why they are of great importance for the history of Finnish architecture . Almost without exception, the medieval Finnish stone churches are small and simple field stone churches . Only Turku Cathedral, Finland's only medieval cathedral, comes close to the proportions of central European cathedrals.
History of medieval church building in Finland
Christianization of Finland
The starting date of Christianity in Finland is traditionally the crusade of the Swedish King Erik the Holy, scheduled for 1155 . The bishop Heinrich von Uppsala is said to have accompanied the king on this crusade and converted the pagan Finns to Christianity. In fact, by the turn of the millennium, the Finns had already come into contact with the Christian faith, in the West with the Roman Catholic , in the East with the Orthodox , through trade relations . Simultaneously with the consolidation of Swedish rule in the 12th and 13th centuries, today's western Finland was also incorporated into the Catholic church organization. The bishopric was initially in Nousiainen , then from 1229 in Koroinen . At the end of the 13th century he was moved to Turku . The Diocese of Turku involved in the Middle Ages almost the entire territory of present-day Finland. The Åland archipelago occupies a special position . It had been under the rule of Sweden since the 11th century and belonged to the Linköping diocese .
Wooden churches
With the establishment of the first parishes in the 13th century, the first parish churches were built on the Finnish mainland. These early church buildings were built using wood and none of them have survived. The oldest wooden building in Finland is the preaching house of St. Henry , a storage building in Kokemäki , in which, according to tradition, St. Henry spent his last night. The oldest surviving wooden churches date from the 17th century ( Church of Vörå , 1627). The old church of Sodankylä (1689) with its construction based on medieval models and its simple design may give a rough impression of the nature of the medieval wooden churches .
The medieval wooden churches were built in block construction. Stave churches like those built in neighboring Scandinavian countries were unknown in Finland. The early wooden churches are likely to have had flatter roofs following the Romanesque style , whereas most of the later stone churches have steep Gothic roofs. In contrast to the later churches , the choir also formed its own component, which was narrower and lower than the nave . Sacristies and armories , however, were still rare.
At the time when the first stone churches were built, the respective parishes had existed for up to 200 years. Therefore, most of the stone churches were preceded by wooden buildings on the same spot. As a rule, several generations of wooden churches followed one another, as wood as a building material was susceptible to the weather and fire. A wooden church was often converted into a stone church by building a stone sacristy as a first step and only later the church hall was walled. In some cases the renovation was not completed and the first phase remained. Ten preserved medieval sacristies without an associated church hall testify to this. The connection between the wooden church and the stone sacristy can be seen in the church of Kisko , where a wooden church from 1810 was connected to a sacristy from the 16th century.
Stone churches
The medieval Finnish church buildings are concentrated in the south and west of the country: The highest density of stone churches is found in the historical landscapes of Varsinais-Suomi , Uusimaa , Häme , Satakunta and Åland. A smaller number, namely only eight church buildings, can be found in Österbotten along the west coast of Finland up to Alatornio and Keminmaa at the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia . Even fewer stone churches were built in the eastern Finnish regions of Karelia and Savo - in the latter, the stone sacristy of Mikkeli alone testifies to the medieval church architecture.
The medieval Finnish stone churches can be divided into three consecutive groups based on their architectural style. The churches of the oldest group can only be found in Åland, where church construction started much earlier than on the Finnish mainland. A total of six churches from the period between the late 13th and early 15th centuries belong to this group. Its earliest and at the same time the oldest church in Finland is the Jomala Church, which was built between 1275 and 1285 . The oldest church in mainland Finland is Turku Cathedral . It was probably consecrated in 1300; However, it is not clear whether it was already the stone building that forms the core of today's church or a wooden predecessor building. The stone cathedral may not have been built until 1400.
In the 15th century, a phase of great church building activity began on the Finnish mainland, which peaked in the period between 1440 and 1460. Most of the churches in this group were built in the historic landscapes of Varsinais-Suomi and Uusimaa on the south-west and south coast of Finland. The youngest group is a series of stone churches, the construction of which began after around 1495. They are mainly found in the Häme landscape inland and on the west coast in Satakunta and Österbotten. In addition, during this period, new church buildings were also erected in landscapes in which stone churches already existed. The last medieval stone churches were completed in Närpes and Keminmaa in the 1550s .
In Finland today 73 medieval stone churches and ten sacristies , which were originally built in connection with a no longer preserved wooden church, have been preserved. 18 other church buildings have either been preserved as ruins, have been made accessible through archaeological excavations, or their existence is documented by historical sources. Thus we know of 101 church buildings that were built from stone in the area of today's Finland (104 including the churches of Vyborg , which in the Middle Ages, like Finland, belonged to the Swedish Empire and the diocese of Turku). This number is low compared to other European countries, as Finland was a peripheral and backward part of Sweden in the Middle Ages. In Denmark, for example, 2,560 stone churches were built within its former borders, in Sweden 1,150, and even in Estonia , which is small in terms of area , there were 100.
End of medieval church construction and aftermath
The end of the Finnish Middle Ages was marked by the Reformation , which was introduced into the Swedish Empire by King Gustav I Wasa (1523–1560). This ended the construction of stone churches: Because the parishes had been expropriated by the state, the cheaper timber construction was used. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Finland experienced a veritable heyday of wooden church architecture. The wooden churches of the time after the Reformation partly fall back on medieval models. The pillar churches , which are mainly found in Ostrobothnia, share the rectangular floor plan with the attached sacristy and armory. Also among the few stone churches of the 17th and 18th centuries are some, including the churches of Uusikaupunki (1623–1629), Mietoinen (1641–1643), Ekenäs (1651–1672), Paimio (1681–1689) and Kakskerta (1765 –1769), made of field stone and continue the tradition of medieval stone churches. At the same time, however, under the influence of international styles ( Renaissance , Baroque , Classicism ), new forms of construction also appeared in Finnish church architecture.
At the end of the 19th century, as the Finnish national consciousness developed, the medieval stone churches were interpreted as objects of national heritage. In addition to the Karelian wooden architecture, they were one of the most important sources from which Finnish national romanticism at the turn of the century drew its inspiration. A historical replica of a medieval stone church can be found with the Old Church of Aitolahti (1920) in Tampere . Even some modern church buildings are characterized by rectangular, tower-free floor plans and steep gable roofs, thus making use of the formal language of medieval stone churches. An example is the church of Puolanka (1954).
architecture
Building style and material
With the exception of Turku Cathedral, the only cathedral, the medieval churches in Finland have the character of simple village churches . Because it must be considered exceptional in almost every respect, Turku Cathedral is not included in the following description of the general characteristics of medieval Finnish stone churches.
Because of their simple design, the churches are difficult to assign to a specific style period. Their steep roofs and vaults show them as peripheral representatives of the European Gothic . The brick ornaments on the gable ends show the influence of the brick Gothic in Northern Germany, where many of the church builders came from. Only the oldest churches in Åland still have Romanesque shapes with their flatter roofs . Field stone was used as building material - mostly gray granite , regionally red Rapakiwi . Brick was an expensive building material and was used sparingly. Besides Turku Cathedral, Hattula Church of the Holy Cross is the only medieval brick church in Finland. As a rule, brick was only used for window and door frames, the vaults inside and the gable ornaments.
Layout
The layout of the medieval Finnish stone churches is simple and follows a uniform scheme. The central component is the rectangular, east-facing nave . The churches of Nousiainen and Renko are among the few examples of buildings with a different floor plan . The size of the nave varies between 14.5 × 9.8 m (original dimensions of the church of Vårdö ) and 43.5 × 28.5 m ( church of Naantali ). The choir makes a few exceptions not have its own component but occupies the eastern, originally by a choir screen , a separate part of the nave.
Two smaller components are usually connected to the long sides of the nave: a sacristy in the eastern part of the north wall and an armory in the western part of the south wall. The latter originally served as an anteroom in front of the main entrance, where weapons were deposited before visiting the church. The west entrance was not converted into the main portal until later. Most churches do not have a steeple . Only in Åland's older churches is a west tower the rule, on the Finnish mainland it is only found sporadically. Instead, the church bells are housed in a freestanding stack of bells . The ground plan of many of the medieval churches has recently been changed. In the 19th century in particular, numerous churches were expanded into cruciform churches . Individual churches such as the church of Alatornio have been changed so extensively that they can no longer be recognized as medieval buildings.
Exterior construction
From the outside, the medieval Finnish churches appear quite massive with their simple floor plan. The steep gable roofs , which reach gable heights of up to 34 meters, dominate the external impression. Where there is a church tower, it is usually massive and rather low. The church of Pedersöre has a pointed and slender steeple almost 60 meters high . In the churches of Eckerö and Finström on Åland, the original pyramidal spire has been preserved; in most of the other towers the top was replaced by baroque or classicist domes.
On the outside, the churches have only sparse architectural decorations. Only the most visible parts of the church, the gable ends of the nave and often those of the sacristy and armory, are usually decorated with brick ornaments. Common motifs are crosses, round and arched niches and herringbone patterns.
The windows and doors of the churches have pointed arches , segmental arches and round arches . Among the windows, the choir window is usually the largest and most ornate, but the west window is also lavishly designed. The other windows are kept simpler. The windows were often enlarged at a later date and are seldom preserved in their original medieval form. Some churches have an outer pulpit , mostly on the west side.
inner space
In the larger churches, the nave is divided into two or mostly three naves divided, while smaller churches nave. Two-aisled churches are rather rare among the 73 medieval stone churches, with only nine examples. 32 churches have three naves. A particularly large number of three-aisled buildings can be found under the churches in the Varsinais-Suomi and Uusimaa landscapes. Turku Cathedral has a raised central nave, making it the only medieval basilica in Finland. Here the vaults reach a height of 25 meters.
Apart from smaller churches and those that have remained unfinished, the interiors of medieval Finnish stone churches are vaulted . The longhouses are equipped with cross and star vaults made of brick. The vaults are divided into two to six yokes . There are also barrel vaults in the sacristies and armories .
Furnishing
Paintings
In the Middle Ages the walls and vaults of the churches were decorated with rich Secco paintings. These represent the oldest examples of Finnish art . While we have no knowledge of the paintings in the medieval wooden churches, the paintings on 47 medieval stone churches have been preserved. These paintings were often whitewashed after the Reformation and only recently exposed again during restoration work. The state of preservation of the paintings varies greatly and ranges from entire series of pictures to sparse fragments. In addition to ornamental decorations, common motifs are images of saints, scenes from the Bible and depictions of hell.
The quality of the works varies widely. While some churches are decorated with art historically valuable paintings by foreign masters, other churches only have extremely primitive paintings. The oldest surviving paintings were made in the churches of Jomala and Lemland in Åland at the end of the 13th century by a group of Swedish or Danish artists. These early works are of great artistic value. They already represent the early Gothic , but their ornamentation still partly shows influences from Romanesque painting. The richest and most famous paintings can be found in the churches of Lohja , Hattula and Rymättylä (early 16th century).
Medieval stained glass are only preserved in a few cases. The most important examples can be found in the churches of Raisio and Nagu .
Sculptures
Over 800 medieval wooden sculptures, mostly saints , have been preserved in Finland . These are largely imported goods from Gotland and Northern Germany; but sculptors like the master of Lieto also worked in Finland . The sculptures were originally kept in altar cabinets and were therefore often only worked out on the front. Some sculptures, including the 130 surviving crucifixes , were also placed free-standing and were therefore fully plastic. With the Reformation the images of saints lost their liturgical meaning. But because there was no iconoclasm in Finland , they remained in large numbers afterwards.
Dating
Dating most of Finland's medieval churches is difficult as there are few written sources about their construction. Historical documents can provide clues; however, their interpretation is often uncertain. Only in isolated cases are building inscriptions found in the wall paintings of the churches that allow dating. Science therefore has to resort to other methods of determining the age : Relative dating can be achieved by comparing the architectural style of the churches. Scientific methods ( radiocarbon dating , dendrochronology ) can also provide valuable information on dating.
For a long time it was assumed that the construction dates of the medieval Finnish churches were relatively early. Many churches on the Finnish mainland were dated to the 13th or 14th century. The archaeologist and mediaevalist Markus Hiekkanen presented new research results in the mid-1990s, mainly on the basis of dendrochronological dating, which speak in favor of much later construction dates. A project to date the Åland churches under the direction of the art historian Åsa Ringbom , however, came to different results using radiocarbon dating. Therefore, the question of the age of the medieval churches in Finland cannot be considered conclusively answered.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Markus Hiekkanen: Suomen kivikirkot keskiajalla, Helsinki 2003, p. 17.
- ↑ Markus Hiekkanen: Suomen kivikirkot keskiajalla, Helsinki 2003, p. 26 f.
- ↑ On the age structure of the churches, see Markus Hiekkanen: Suomen kivikirkot keskiajalla, Helsinki 2003, p. 24 ff.
- ↑ See Markus Hiekkanen: The Stone Churches of the Medieval Diocese of Turku , Helsinki 1994, p. 255 f.
- ↑ Elias Härö, Gisbert Jänicke: Churches, In: Olli Aho (Hrsg.): Kulturlexikon Finland. Helsinki 1998, here p. 178.
- ↑ Markku Valkonen: Painting , in: Olli Alho (Hrsg.): Kulturlexikon Finland, Helsinki 1998, here p. 206.
- ↑ On dating problems and methods see Markus Hiekkanen: Suomen kivikirkot keskiajalla , Helsinki 2003, p. 21.
- ↑ For a summary of the dispute over dating see Visa Immonen: Kivikirkkojen ajoittamisen vaikeus . In: Tieteessä tapahtuu 5/2004 ( Memento from August 29, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 91 kB).
literature
- Elias Härö, Gisbert Jänicke: Churches. In: Olli Alho (ed.): Kulturlexikon Finland (= Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia 719). Finnish Literature Society, Helsinki 1998, ISBN 951-746-032-5 , pp. 177-181.
- Markus Hiekkanen: The Stone Churches of the Medieval Diocese of Turku. A systematic Classification and Chronology (= Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistyksen aikakauskirja 101). Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistys, Helsinki 1994, ISBN 951-9057-11-0 (English).
- Markus Hiekkanen: Suomen kivikirkot keskiajalla. Otava, Helsinki 2003, ISBN 951-1-15126-6 (Finnish).
- Markus Hiekkanen: Suomen keskiajan kivikirkot (= Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia 1117). Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 2007, ISBN 978-951-746-861-9 (Finnish).
- Esa Santakari: Keskiajan kivikirkot = Finlands medeltida stenkyrkor = The medieval Stone Churches of Finland. Otava, Helsinki 1979, ISBN 951-1-05475-9 .
Web links
- Marja Terttu Knapas: Keskiajan kivikirkot kertovat pitkään jatkuneesta asutuksesta ( Memento from October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Finnish)
- Kyrkor.ax - A website with history and research on the Åland churches
- Juhani Sinivaara: Suomen keskiaikaiset kivikirkot (Finnish)
