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. Most commonly two pairs of block pillars were used, but the largest block-pillar church is Tornio Church [fi], 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.

Preserved churches

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

PlaceChurchBuiltNotesPicture
Alastaro, Loimaa, FinlandAlastaro Church [fi]1754moved from Loimaa in 1841Alastaro Church
Jukkasjärvi, Kiruna, SwedenJukkasjärvi Church [fi; sv]1726Jukkasjärvi Church
Kempele, FinlandKempele Old Church [fi]1688–1691Kempele Old Church
Kristinestad, FinlandUlrika Eleonora Church, Kristinestad [fi]1700Ulrika Eleonora Church
Muhos, FinlandMuhos Church [fi]1634Muhos Church
Sodankylä, FinlandSodankylä Old Church1689Sodankylä Old Church
Temmes, Tyrnävä, FinlandTemmes Church [fi]1767Temmes Church
Tervola, FinlandTervola Old Church [fi]1687–89Tervola Old Church
Tornio, FinlandTornio Church [fi]1684–86Tornio Church
Ullava, Kokkola, FinlandUllava Church [fi]1783Ullava Church
Utajärvi, FinlandUtajärvi Church [fi]1762Utajärvi Church
Vörå, FinlandVörå Church [fi]1626–27expanded to cruciform church in 1777Vörå 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. 1 2 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.