Turku Cathedral, Turku, Finland - SpottingHistory.com

Turku Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and the country's national shrine. It is the central church of the Archdiocese of Turku and the seat of the Archbishop of Finland. It is also regarded as one of the major records of Finnish architectural history.

The cathedral was originally built out of wood in the late 13th century, and was dedicated as the main cathedral of Finland in 1300, the seat of the bishop of Turku. It was considerably expanded in the 14th and 15th centuries, mainly using stone as the construction material. The cathedral was badly damaged during the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, and was rebuilt to a great extent afterwards.

Reference: Wikipedia

User Reviews

Danko (4 months ago)
A beautiful and historical place to visit.

Zoe Thomas (4 months ago)
disgutisng. they turned a church, a place of worship, into an attraction! i was disgusted by the amount of people that weren't there to worship our lord and saviour jesus christ. i dedicate my entire life to our lord and savior, jesus christ, and this is the thanks i get? would give this zero stars if i could.

schtii2 (7 months ago)
Nice but not too extraordinary

Axel Wetterholm (8 months ago)
Beautiful cathedral with a warmth look. During my visit I experienced a free performance which was very calming and harmonic. Their coffee shop located outside of the church doesn't take cards, so I'd recommend bringing cash incase you want to try it out.

Matt Clegg (9 months ago)
This church is unbelievable. The architecture is breathtaking and the church has beautiful artwork. This was a top 5 favorite stop of our entire trip.

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The Church of Our Lady before Týn is a dominant feature of the Old Town of Prague and has been the main church of this part of the city since the 14th century. The church's towers are 80 m high and topped by four small spires.

In the 11th century, this area was occupied by a Romanesque church, which was built there for foreign merchants coming to the nearby Týn Courtyard. Later it was replaced by an early Gothic Church of Our Lady before Týn in 1256. Construction of the present church began in the 14th century in the late Gothic style under the influence of Matthias of Arras and later Peter Parler. By the beginning of the 15th century, construction was almost complete; only the towers, the gable and roof were missing. The church was controlled by Hussites for two centuries, including John of Rokycan, future archbishop of Prague, who became the church's vicar in 1427. The roof was completed in the 1450s, while the gable and northern tower were completed shortly thereafter during the reign of George of Poděbrady (1453–1471). His sculpture was placed on the gable, below a huge golden chalice, the symbol of the Hussites. The southern tower was not completed until 1511, under architect Matěj Rejsek.

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The early baroque altarpiece has paintings by Karel Škréta from around 1649. The oldest pipe organ in Prague stands inside this church. The organ was built in 1673 by Heinrich Mundt and is one of the most representative 17th-century organs in Europe.

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