Helsinki Old Church

The Old Church (Finnish Vanhakirkko, swedish Gamla kyrkan ) is a Church in the Finnish capital Helsinki. It was built in 1824-1826, designed by Carl Ludwig Engel. The Old Church is located on Route Bulevardi Helsinki city center and is used by the Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral Parish Helsinki.

The Old Church is her name according to the oldest surviving church in the center of Helsinki (the oldest church in the city is the Church built in 1754 by Östersundom that by incorporation at the Helsinki came only in 2009 ). The old church was built as a replacement for the Ulrika Eleonora Church, which had to give way to the 1827 newly built Senate Square and was originally intended to stay only temporarily exist until completion of the Nikolai church ( the present-day cathedral ). Therefore, it was chosen wood as a building material and waives the purchase of church bells.

The old church is built in the style of classicism and has a cross-shaped floor plan. The interior of the church can accommodate 1,200 worshipers. The altarpiece of the church was painted in 1848 by Robert Wilhelm Ekman and was originally intended for the Nikolai Church. From 1827 demolished Ulrika Eleonora Church, among others, the pews and the pulpit were installed in the early church.

Between the Old Church and the Bulevardi Street is the so-called " Pestpark " ( Ruttopuisto / Pestparken ), officially " the church age park" ( Vanha kirkkopuisto / Gamla kyrkoparken ). This is located on the site of an ancient cemetery and got its name because here more than a thousand victims of a devastating plague were buried in 1710. As the place had gone out on the Ulrika Eleonora Church cemetery in 1770, the Pestpark was appointed as the new cemetery of the city of Helsinki. After the completion of the Cemetery Hietaniemi in 1829, the cemetery of the old church was converted into a park.