Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki Cathedral is a distinct landmark in the scenery of central Helsinki, with a tall green dome surrounded by four smaller domes. It was built in 1830–1852 in neoclassical style to replace an earlier church from 1727. The cathedral was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, to form the climax of the whole Senate Square laid out by Engel, surrounded by a number of buildings all designed by him.

Today the cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Helsinki. Annually more than 350,000 people visit the church, some of them to attend religious events, but most as tourists. The church is in regular use for both worship services and special events such as weddings.

References:

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User Reviews

Avishek Gupta (15 months ago)
A decent church in the center of the city. The church is more beautiful from the outside. One of the most visited places in Helsinki.

Srini Venkat (15 months ago)
The building looks majestic. I went during Christmas and there was a small but pretty Christmas market right in front of the cathedral. It looked amazing.

Shawna Tan (2 years ago)
This is a very majestic looking cathedral and is also a historical building. It overseas the Senate square which comes to live during winter with the Christmas market being held there. The photos below are for the Saint Lucia event which is a pagan event where Saint Lucia (girl with candles on the head) will travel around Finland to give blessings and bring light to the country. This event happens during the darkest winter months. If you're here at the Cathedral, be sure to climb the stairs to get a breath taking view of the Senate square below.

Lance Rhodes (2 years ago)
Lovely building from the outside. Stunning. Don't bother going inside. Very plan very white. The organ is nice.

Navpreet Rocks (2 years ago)
Beautiful and located in Central of Helsinki. When you reach on the top and have a view it looks amazing. You can easily reach here by Trams or by walk. Beautiful church it is. Must visit....

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The Kalozha church of Saints Boris and Gleb is the oldest extant structure in Hrodna. It is the only surviving monument of ancient Black Ruthenian architecture, distinguished from other Orthodox churches by prolific use of polychrome faceted stones of blue, green or red tint which could be arranged to form crosses or other figures on the wall.

The church is a cross-domed building supported by six circular pillars. The outside is articulated with projecting pilasters, which have rounded corners, as does the building itself. The ante-nave contains the choir loft, accessed by a narrow gradatory in the western wall. Two other stairs were discovered in the walls of the side apses; their purpose is not clear. The floor is lined with ceramic tiles forming decorative patterns. The interior was lined with innumerable built-in pitchers, which usually serve in Eastern Orthodox churches as resonators but in this case were scored to produce decorative effects. For this reason, the central nave has never been painted.

The church was built before 1183 and survived intact, depicted in the 1840s by Michał Kulesza, until 1853, when the south wall collapsed, due to its perilous location on the high bank of the Neman. During restoration works, some fragments of 12th-century frescoes were discovered in the apses. Remains of four other churches in the same style, decorated with pitchers and coloured stones instead of frescoes, were discovered in Hrodna and Vaŭkavysk. They all date back to the turn of the 13th century, as do remains of the first stone palace in the Old Hrodna Castle.

In 2004, the church was included in the Tentative List of UNESCO"s World Heritage Sites.

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