St Michael's Church, Turku
| Michael's Church | |
|---|---|
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| 60°26′55″N 022°14′53″E / 60.44861°N 22.24806°ECoordinates: 60°26′55″N 022°14′53″E / 60.44861°N 22.24806°E | |
| Location | Turku |
| Country | Finland |
| Denomination | Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland |
| Website | Official website (in Finnish) |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Completed |
| Architect(s) | Lars Sonck |
| Architectural type | Art Nouveau and Gothic Revival |
| Completed | 1905 |
| Specifications | |
| Capacity | 1,800 |
| Height | 77 m |
Michael's Church (Finnish: Mikaelinkirkko, Swedish: Mikaelskyrkan) is a church situated in central Turku. It's named after Archangel Michael and was finished in 1905. It dominates the western skyline of the city of Turku was designed by Professor Lars Sonck and is one of the most popular wedding churches in Turku being able to seat 1,800 people. When Sonck won the competition for the church in 1894, he was only a 23-year-old architectural student. Michael's Church is older than Michael's parish. The parish only dates back to 1921.
Michael's church is a distinguished example of the neogothic style in architecture. It is a long church with three aisles, galleries and a multifaceted choir. In addition to the main entrance there are also doors at each corner of the church. The sacristy is situated behind the choir. The main spire rises to a height of 77 meters from the foundations.
The main building material of the walls of the church is red brick. The roof is made of grey green slate from Norway. However, the majority of the material used in the construction of the church are native materials from Finland. For the foundations, the stone steps, and the walls, natural stone was quarried not far from Turku.
Even before the construction work started, Sonck wanted to make considerable changes to his winning design, but the church council did not agree to the proposed changes and in the end only minor detail changes were made to the facade. As for the interior, however, Sonck got a much freer hand to make changes from his original drawings. This is clearly seen in the deviations from the style of the times: Jugend follows Gothic and Romantic Nationalism.
Max Frelander the architect, who worked as an assistant to Sonck, has contributed to the interior design. A rich Jugend ornamentation decorates both the interior, the staircases and the windows. The altar, the pulpit, the altar rail, and the window frame are all made of Finnish soapstone. The central motif of the altar is a cross, on which base there is a symmetrical carving of two serpents. Also on the corner level of the altar rail there are rings of twisting serpents. The top of the cross is ornamented with a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Jugend windows of the choir, which depict Finnish pine, were destroyed in a bombing raid during the Finnish Winter War (1939–1940). The national romantic movement is particularly dominant in the design of the choir. Motifs from Finnish nature are associated with traditional Christian symbolism.
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