Temppeliaukio Church. Is it worth it?
Most times when we find ourselves sightseeing in a new city, we often end up in the cathedral. Often, it just seems like one of those things that needs to be ticked off a list.
However, if you find yourself in Helsinki, you might be left slightly disappointed with the interior of the cathedral there.
I don't mean to be offensive to the Finnish here. The outside of the building is hugely impressive, iconic and is deservingly on most postcards you’ll see for sale in the Finnish capital.
Helsinki Cathedral shines bright even on a cloudy winters day.
But the interior is somewhat bland when compared to cathedrals in other cities around Europe. It's all part of the style, but still, it's a little underwhelming.
Entrance is free and therefore you may as well pop in for a quick look around just to say you've done it.
But if you're left still looking for your fix of religious architecture, here's a quick review of Helsinki’s Temppeliaukio Church.
Known in Finnish as Temppeliaukion Church with an 'n', this Helsinki attraction is also known as the Rock Church or Cave Church and is a popular landmark that is well worth checking out.
Completed in 1969, this fully functioning Lutheran church has a much more modern design and feel than most you would typically visit on a city break.
A view of the understated entrance to Helsinki’s unique rock church.
Whilst this would normally put me off, there are enough features that are unique to this building to make it well worth your time.
The most obvious is, of course, that it's carved into a rock.
The place would have been more impressive if the original design had not needed to be scaled back due to economic reasons.
The church that we see today is only a quarter of the size of the original plan by architect brother's Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen.
Despite this, the interior is still an amazing sight once you’ve entered through the very low key, almost hidden entrance way.
Simple seating and a basic altar are overlooked by the large, modern organ.
You are greeted by a small reception desk where you pay a very reasonable €4 entrance fee. After which, walking to the right sees you enter the main, circular shaped hall.
If you've done any research prior to your visit, the first thing you'll look at is above you.
The ceiling is made from a huge copper dome, surrounded by skylights which let in natural light to illuminate the main room.
The impressive copper wire dome is what most people will remember from their visit.
I'm sure I read somewhere before my visit that the roof is made from several kilometres of copper wire, but I've since not been able to find the article again.
Maybe ask somebody behind the reception desk and let me know in a comments below if you find out!
The vast amount of light let in through the ceiling creates a very different feel when compared to most religious buildings you are likely to visit.
The interior feels much less heavy and oppressive.
The large windows made from concrete beams do a great job of filling the place with lots of light.
The walls around the circumference are bare rock, a feature that was at first considered too radical for the initial designs, but one that thankfully made it through to the finished building.
The acoustics are apparently amazing here if you are lucky enough to visit during a random piano concert rehearsal or choir performance.
A lot of this is down to the natural rock walls. Conductor Paavo Berglund and sound engineer Mauri Parjo shared their expertise with the architects during the design process. As the rock surface was considered best for the job, it was incorporated into the design.
Candles burn in an alcove in the natural rock walls.
Another stunning feature of the church, which also happens to involve sound, is the organ. The instrument was manufactured by Veikko Virtannen and consist of 3001 pipes.
You may also wonder where the church bells are kept, as depending on when you visit you may hear them ringing out.
There's obviously no bell tower here and so a recording, composed by Taneli Kuusisto, plays out on external speakers during the day or on special occasions.
The large, modern organ stands tall over the meandering tourists below.
All the furnishings in the church from the pews to the altar were designed by the architects.
To the left of the reception is small staircase which leads to an upstairs seating area overlooking the vast room.
It's a nice place to take photos from to get the sense of scale.
But on the subject of photos, there is only really one negative of the place. And that is that it's often very busy.
When I visited it wasn't so bad. But it was still quite hard to get pictures without fellow tourists wandering into shot.
I had read reviews previously where people complained of large cruise ship tours coming into the building one after the other.
Fortunately for myself this wasn't the case but there were still enough people around to make composing iteresting shots slightly frustrating.
In most cases though, it wasn't something that a bit of cropping in post didn't solve.
Hymn books in the pews remind you that this is a working Lutheran church.
So all in all is a visit to the Rock Church worth it?
Considering it's low entrance fee and the fact that it's only a 15-minute walk from central Helsinki, I would say definitely yes.
Even if they did charge more to get in, I would still recommend a visit. This building is something unique to the Finnish capital and well worth your time.
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