Block-pillar church

The block-pillar church (Finnish: tukipilarikirkko; Swedish: blockpelarkyrka) was a common type of wooden church in Ostrobothnia in the 17th century. Individual specimens are also found elsewhere in Finland and in northern Sweden.

Construction

The basic form of a block pillar church is a nave church, where the walls are made of horizontal logs and the joints between the logs are placed inside a timber pillar. The pillars are square timbered cavities as high as the walls with interlocking joints and are visible from both outside and inside the church. The pillars support a long timber wall so it doesn't start to buckle due to pressure from the roof. Inside the church, the walls are supported by tie beams between the parallel walls.[1] Most commonly two pairs of block pillars were used, but the largest block-pillar church is Tornio Church, which has three pairs of pillars. In the west gable, the churches often have a timbered tower with a high spire. Most often the tower had no church bells, and a bell tower was built separately. Block-pillar churches appear to have been an Ostrobothnian specialty.[2]

Preserved churches

Around a hundred block-pillar churches were built, twelve of which have been preserved. The oldest preserved is Vörå Church from 1627, which was expanded into a cruciform church in 1777.[2]

Place Church Built Notes Picture
Alastaro, Loimaa, Finland Alastaro Church 1754 moved from Loimaa in 1841 Alastaro Church
Jukkasjärvi, Kiruna, Sweden Jukkasjärvi Church 1726 Jukkasjärvi Church
Kempele, Finland Kempele Old Church 1688–1691 Kempele Old Church
Kristinestad, Finland Ulrika Eleonora Church, Kristinestad 1700 Ulrika Eleonora Church
Muhos, Finland Muhos Church 1634 Muhos Church
Sodankylä, Finland Sodankylä Old Church 1689 Sodankylä Old Church
Temmes, Tyrnävä, Finland Temmes Church 1767 Temmes Church
Tervola, Finland Tervola Old Church 1687–89 Tervola Old Church
Tornio, Finland Tornio Church 1684–86 Tornio Church
Ullava, Kokkola, Finland Ullava Church 1783 Ullava Church
Utajärvi, Finland Utajärvi Church 1762 Utajärvi Church
Vörå, Finland Vörå Church 1626–27 expanded to cruciform church in 1777 Vörå Church

References

  1. ^ Pettersson, Lars (1985). "IV Kring stenkyrkorna och stensakristian i Vörå samt blockpelarkyrkornas framträdande i Österbotten" [About the stone churches and the stone sacristy in Vörå and the emergence of block-pillar churches in Ostrobothnia]. Svenska Österbottens historia 5 (in Swedish). Svenska Österbottens landskapsförbund. pp. 59–63, 67. ISBN 9519961186. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b Knapas, Marja Terttu (2018). "Blockpelarkyrkan en finländsk specialitet" [The block-pillar church is a Finnish speciality]. Kulttuuriymparistomme.fi (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.