Helsinki Cathedral
— — a white church and a green dome on a flight of stairs.
Not only on a wall.
“The Lutheran cathedral that holds the centre of Helsinki. Carl Ludvig Engel drew it in the neoclassical Empire style for the new Russian-era capital; it was finished in 1852, twelve years after his death, with four smaller domes added to flank the great green one. The white facade sits at the top of a long granite stair above Senate Square, the most photographed civic space in Finland. In summer the steps fill with travellers eating ice cream. In January, when the square is dark by mid-afternoon, the cathedral is lit and the snow is blue. from the studio
Helsinki Cathedral, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Helsinki Cathedral — Helsingin tuomiokirkko — is the principal Lutheran church of the Diocese of Helsinki, set on the north side of Senate Square in the heart of the Finnish capital. It was designed by the German-born architect Carl Ludvig Engel as part of the neoclassical Empire centre laid out after Helsinki replaced Turku as the capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812. Construction ran from 1830 to 1852; Engel died in 1840 and his successor Ernst Lohrmann added the four small corner domes and the statues of the twelve apostles on the roofline. The cathedral is one of the most visited buildings in Finland, drawing well over 300,000 people a year.
The cathedral is built of brick and rendered in white lime stucco, with column capitals and details in pale stone. The great central dome, sheathed in green-painted copper, sits on a high drum visible from the harbour and from the Baltic ferries arriving at the South Harbour. Forty-six steps rise from Senate Square to the portico — the square itself paved with about 400,000 setts of red and grey Finnish granite, laid in radiating bands by Engel's plan. Inside, the cruciform nave is sparse and bright: white walls, an organ on the western gallery, and altar paintings replaced through the 19th century after the original plans were thinned to save cost.
The cathedral is open to the public most days, typically from around 9 a.m. into the evening in summer and on a slightly shorter schedule in winter; it closes during weddings, funerals, and special services. Entry is free. The crypt beneath the church, accessed from the rear, hosts changing exhibitions and a café. Sunday services run in Finnish, with regular services in Swedish and occasional English. Senate Square in front is the centre of Helsinki's civic life — host to the New Year's Eve gathering, the Tuomas Christmas market in December, and a long-running summer programme of evening organ concerts inside the nave.