Temppeliaukio Church

Our second stop on our city tour of Helsinki was at Temppeliaukio Church, also called Rock Church. This is a Lutheran Church that was built in 1969 by blasting into hard granitic rock. Some of the surrounding rock was left in place, and the end result is a church sitting in a depression surrounded by rock walls - very unique, and very beautiful. The ceiling consists of a 13 mile long coil of copper ribbon wound in a circular pattern and a skylight dome. The acoustics are fantastic, and there are many concerts held here. Kirta pointed out that people love to go to church to attend weddings and concerts and other events, but that the Sunday services are usually empty. Most people in Finland are Lutheran affiliated (about 80%), with a small percentage being Orthodox. Even though Lutheranism is predominant, there are 2 "national" churches of Finland: Lutheran and Orthodox. (Catholics comprise around 1% of the Finnish population.) Finland has a "church tax", where 1-2% of income is taxed and given to state-recognized churches. The money is used mostly for the maintenance of the property and buildings, which have a high cultural value, rather than to promote religion, as Finland is a highly secularized country.