Greetings and welcome to today’s The World Around Us.
Finland is renowned for her natural beauty, graced by flourishing forests and adorned with twinkling lakes. It is said that nature is part of the Finnish national character and identity, a blessed source of inspiration and creativity for Finnish people.

This is demonstrated by the design of modern Finnish church buildings. The sacredness of these revered places is often exemplified in their style of purity and minimalism. These buildings also bear an intention of to be attuned to nature. Natural light, space and material are over interwoven in design and construction.
On this episode, we are traveling to Helsinki, the country’s capital, to visit a wonderful modern church, Temppeliaukio Kirkko.

This unique church is carved into rock. It is a remarkable and magical expression of the strong dedicated faith in God and, of course, a firm oneness with nature. Temppeliaukio Kirkko, which is also well known by its nick name, Rock Church, is part of the Evangelical Lutheran faith. As its name states, it is located in Temppeliaukio

The Temple Square is in the Toolo residential district in the center of Helsinki and was named in the early 1900s. Since 1906, three architectural design competitions had been held for this project.
The entry entitled “The Stone Church” by two architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen won the last competition run between 1960 and 1961.

The two architects were born and raised on Suursaari Island in the Gulf of Finland. When Maila Mehtälä, the Finnish non-fiction writer, interviewed Timo Suomalainen, the architect talked about his deep relationship with the Earth since their early years.

He stated that the island’s rocky hills, steep cliffs, caves, stony fields, etc. had long been participating in their architecture spontaneously.