Tampere Cathedral is a Lutheran church in Tampere, Finland, and the seat of the Diocese of Tampere. The building was designed in the National Romantic style by Lars Sonck, and built between 1902 and 1907.
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Stone church. Tampere Cathedral is one of the principal monuments of Finnish National Romantic architecture and painting from the early 20th century. The cathedral's exterior is characterized by a picturesque, fragmented massing of volumes with three towers of varying heights and numerous gables. The outer wall surface material is light grey Uusikaupunki granite executed in squared rubble bonding. Behind the spire of the main tower the designer Lars Sonck had the image of the tower of the medieval stone church of Finström, his birthplace. In the fence surrounding the church and in the southern and western gate arches the material is raw, stout natural stones. The spacious church hall is nearly square, and its floor plan has been influenced by contemporary American and English preaching churches. The interior is dominated by a star vault borne by sturdy granite pillars whose contours the galleries on three sides follow. The church's fixed furnishings – pulpit, altar, pews, and light fittings – were designed at Sonck's office. In the interior design Sonck was assisted by architect Valter Jung. The metalwork was done by Eric O.W. Ehrström. The church's painted decoration was made by Magnus Enckell and Hugo Simberg. Enckell painted a large Resurrection fresco on the rear wall of the altar, and Simberg took care of the remaining painted decoration of the church hall as well as designing the stained glass windows and the plasterwork decoration of the pulpit. In the central vault there is a serpent following the ribs, whose wings fill part of the vault webs. On the curved gallery balustrade a rose and bramble garland entwines at varying rhythms, borne by twelve boys. Simberg's beloved paintings Garden of Death and The Wounded Angel are as separate images on the gable wall on either side of the choir.
Official description (Museovirasto) — machine-translated from Finnish
- Municipality
- Tampere