赫爾辛基的岩石教堂 Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki

 

Temppeliaukio Church

Built into the bedrock, Temppeliaukio Church is Helsinki’s favorite attraction and an important architecture-based destination. Its impressive atmosphere, splendid architecture and excellent acoustics have made the church popular not only with tourists but also with local inhabitants and concert arrangers. Nevertheless, Temppeliaukio Church is first and foremost a place of worship – where people can stop for a while, pray and meditate.

Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen – brothers who were both architects – 

Won an architectural competition held between 1960 and 1961 with their Kivikirkko (Church of the Rock) proposal, in which the church hall was embedded into the stone. Their radical design aroused public excitement, but the building has become a part of Helsinki’s cultural milieu and is now a highly respected attraction as well as a popular church for weddings. The church was opened for use in 1969.

The church area, carved into the bedrock, is accessed from the street level. The elliptic church hall is bathed in daylight, which passes into the hall from the narrow skylights between the rock wall and the copper ceiling dome. The inner surface of the dome is clad in copper tape requiring a length of 22 km. The diameter of the dome is 24 meters, and the highest point is 13 meters from the floor. The excavation surface of the walls has been left rough for acoustic and aesthetic reasons. Water trickling from cracking in the rock, which is led away along channels proceeding under the floor, adds vibrancy to the stone surfaces. Drilling trace remains have not been removed from the walls, due to the wish to display the working methods. The height of the walls is 5~9 meters.

The altar wall of the church hall is a split in the rock dating back to the Ice Age. The altar table is granite that has been evenly sawn, the floor of the hall is polished concrete, and the pulpit is made of reinforced concrete. The pews are made of birch wood. The altar crucifix, baptismal font and candelabra have been forged by artist Kauko Moisio. The church hall textiles have been designed by textile artist Tellervo Strommer, and the green plantings in the rock surrounding the church have been designed by garden architect Erik Sommerschield. The stone wall encircling the church has been set and assembled with excavated rock. There are no bells in Temppeliaukio Church. In their place, a chime melody composed by Taneli Kuusisto is played, which can be heard from the loudspeakers placed in the outer walls of the church.

在1960-1961年，Timo和Tuomo兩兄弟贏得當時舉行的建築設計比賽，要在岩石裡建立教堂。當時兩兄弟的設計受到當地人的反對，但現在教堂已經是赫爾辛基文化的一部分，教堂在1969年完工。

教堂的特色是它的設計，尤其是教堂的頂部是由二十二公里的銅條盤繞而成，直徑24米，頂部最高處離地面13米。牆壁表面保留了許多建造教堂時留下來的痕跡，那是因為兩兄弟想要大家看到時能回想造教堂時的情況，牆壁則有5~9米高。

聖壇和地板是用花崗岩和混凝土打造，所有的座位則是用樺木完成的。聖壇上的十字架、洗禮盆和燭台都是藝術家Kauko Moisio做給教堂的 ; 編織藝術家Tellervo Strommer設計製作了教堂大廳內的紡織裝飾品 ; 園林設計師Erik Sommerschield為岩石教堂周圍設計了綠色花草，環繞教堂的石頭牆是用開採岩路裡挖出來的碎石堆積而成的，這座教堂裡沒有大鐘，而是用Taneli Kuusisto撰寫的錄音歌。