Temppeliaukio Church – Helsinki, Finland - Atlas Obscura
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Temppeliaukio Church

Helsinki, Finland

A subterranean house of worship carved right out of the bedrock. 

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jlascar/Flickr (Creative Commons)
jlascar/Flickr (Creative Commons)
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Arttu Suomalainen/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
jimg944/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Matthew Duncan/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
jimg944/Flickr (Creative Commons)
The church viewed from a hot air balloon MKFI/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
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Completed in 1969, Temppeliaukio Church is carved right from the bedrock in the center of Helsinki.

The underground house of worship, called Temppeliaukion kirkko in Finnish, was designed by architect brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen in the charmingly named Töölö neighborhood. On all sides of the circular church are roughly hewn stone, where sometimes water still seeps in to create miniature waterfalls. A dome coated with copper covers the rock church, with a skylight open in a belt below it to make the dome appear to hover. Even further below the church is a Cold War-era air raid shelter, which now serves as parking. 

Despite its cave-like appearance, Temppeliaukio Church actually has marvelous acoustics, where the sound beautifully bounces from the craggy stone. 

Know Before You Go

The entrance to the church is at the northside of Fredrikinkatu

subterranean churches sacred spaces architectural oddities architecture
Community Contributors
Allison
Added by
Allison
Global Sightseer
Jaszmina Szendrey
Edited by
Global Sightseer, Jaszmina Szendrey
Published
September 25, 2013
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