Sightseeing: Temppeliaukio Church

Temppeliaukio Church  is a Lutheran church in the Töölö neighborhood of Helsinki. 

The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen 

and opened in 1969. Built directly into solid rock, it is also known as the Church of the Rock 

and Rock Church.

The interior was excavated and built directly out of solid rock and is bathed in natural light 

which enters through the skylight surrounding the center copper dome. 

The church is used frequently as a concert venue due to its excellent acoustics. 

The acoustic quality is created by the rough, virtually unworked rock surfaces.

The Temppeliaukio church is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city; 

half a million people visit it annually. Before the construction of the church was even 

fully complete it made headlines when a group of Christian students painted 

in large letters "BIAFRA" in several places on the exterior walls of the building 

to bring attention to the famine then going on in Biafra. 

The argument of the students - then part of the '60s student revolutionary movement 

- was that the money spent on the new lavish church could be better spent on 

aid to Biafra and elsewhere in Africa.

I was married to my ex husband in this church very young. 

I don’t remember much else from the ceremony, only a big crowd of Japanese tourists. 

I lived a few years right opposite the church, in that red building, at the upper floor. 

Nowadays the tourist buses cannot park quite near the church, 

it caused so much trouble for us local residents.

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