The Alexander Church (; ) is a stone church in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, and it is part of the Tampere Cathedral Parish. It is located in the

Kaakinmaa Kaakinmaa is a district in Tampere, Finland, located in the Keskusta, Tampere, city center. It includes the area south of Pyynikki Church Park (''Pyynikin kirkkopuisto'') between the Hämeenpuisto park and the Mariankatu street. To the south, the ...

district in the city center of Tampere, on the edge of the

Hämeenpuisto Hämeenpuisto is a street and public park in Tampere, Finland that is over in length. Its length and central location has earned the park the name "Central Park of Tampere". The park was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel in 1830. Originally the nam ...

park along the Pirkankatu street. The church, designed by architect Theodor Decker, was built of

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

between 1880 and 1881. It is named after Emperor

Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Grand Du ...

. The church is surrounded by Pyynikki Church Park (''Pyynikin kirkkopuisto''), a former

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. The church is a long church with a tower, the short sides of which have short cross-arms at the polygonal

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

end. The facade of the church is dominated by large round and circular windows and protruding

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s, which, however, have no structural significance but are purely architectural decorative elements. The upper lofts of the three-aisled church hall covered with wood are supported by brick pillars. The church, which pursues a continental

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

style, represents a later

neo-Gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

with influences from different styles. The church has 1,430 seats. The church has a 56+3-voice electro-pneumatic

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

built by the

Kangasala is a town in Finland, located in the Pirkanmaa region. It lies to the east of the regional capital, Tampere. The population of Kangasala is approximately , while the Tampere metropolitan area, metropolitan area has a population of approximat ...

's organ factory from 1939. The altarpiece was painted by

Alexandra Frosterus-Såltin Alexandra Theodora Frosterus-Såltin (6 December 1837 – 29 February 1916, Vaasa) was a Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Finnish-Swedish Genre art, genre painter and illustrator, who is also known for her altarpieces. Biography She was b ...

in 1883 and is called "The Glory of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

". As a rule, the church hosts the St. Thomas Mass about every three weeks.

History

Until 1904, Tampere belonged to the parish of

Messukylä Messukylä (, also ) is a former municipality of Finland which was annexed by the city of Tampere in 1947. The medieval stone church (built c. 1540) in Messukylä is the oldest building in Tampere. During the Civil War (1918), Messukylä was the ...

. The main church of the parish was the old greystone church of Messukylä. As early as the 1820s, the people of Tampere had demanded the establishment of their own city church and their release from the maintenance of the Messukylä Church, but in the end the Finnish Senate rejected the proposal. The Turku Judicial Chapter also rejected similar proposals in 1847 and 1853. In 1869, the Senate finally approved the proposal, but imposed two conditions. According to the second condition, the

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

of Messukylä had to be “resigned”, ie the vacancy to be filled. However, Josef Grönberg, who started as the pastor of Messukylä in 1861, lived to be almost 90 years old and did not die until 1903. Another of the conditions set by the Senate was the construction of a new church building. The church was consecrated on

Advent Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Chri ...

in 1881, when it became the main church of the Tampere City Parish. The

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

almost completely destroyed the church in 1937, when its first renovation was nearing completion.Kaarien maalaukset esiin Aleksanterin kirkon ullakolla - Silta
(in Finnish) However, the work was completed and the repair was completed in December 1938.

References

External links

Aleksanterin kirkko - Museovirasto
(in Finnish)
Aleksanterin kirkko - Tampereen seurakunnat
(in Finnish)
Aleksanterin kirkko – VirtualTampere.com
(in Finnish) {{Clear Buildings and structures in Tampere Tourist attractions in Tampere Churches completed in 1881 19th-century churches in Finland 19th-century Lutheran churches