Sightseeing of Helsinki: Tempeliaukio Church

Church-cut church Tempeliaukio is a unique architectural landmark of Helsinki. The author of the project was the brothers-architects Timo and Tomo Somavlyalan, who offered to make an artificial deepening in a rock and cover it with a copper dome. Due to its simplicity and originality, the idea was embodied in just one year: the opening of the new church took place in 1969. However, the discussion lasted much longer: residents of Helsinki wanted to see the traditional temple and opposed the innovative project. In a joke called him "Devil protection bunker" and accused of high costs. However, construction costs were even less than planned, and the Church of Tempeliaukio became one of their main attractions of Helsinki: more than 500 thousand tourists visit the unique temple in the year.

The walls of the church in the rock, the height of which varies from 5 to 9 meters, were almost not treated: from the inside it seems like you are in the cave created by nature itself. The maximum distance from the floor to the dome reaches 13 meters. Daylight penetrates the Tempeliaukio through 180 windows located around the dome. On the left side of the work of Waikko Virtane with 43 pipes. In the absence of bells in the church, imitation of the bell tongue, written by the Finnish composer Tanny Kuusisto. The temple is distinguished by magnificent acoustics, so here they often conduct musical evenings, including "Metal Mass", In which traditional church chants are performed under the accompaniment of heavy rock and metal.

In the peak season, the church in the rock is visited by up to 8 thousand people per day
The interior of the church is decorated in tones, prompted by traditional colors of the Finnish granite

Working hours: from 10:00 to 17:00 in the period from September 1 to May 31, from 10:00 to 17:45 from June 1 to August 31. On Sundays, the church is open to visits from 11:45.