A work for two: the splendid Kaleva Church in Tampere

If you had to direct a science fiction film and needed “futuristic” settings where would you go? One thing is sure: if you ever had to direct a scene in a worship place you would have to travel to Finland, to set some scenes in the Kaleva Church of Tampere.

Between 1959 and 1960 the city of Tampere held a competition to decide what appearance its parish church should have had. The competition was won by Reima Pietilä and Raili Pietilä (former Paatelainen), respectively husband and wife, and the church was consecrated in 1966. This church’s shape clearly reminds the Christian symbol.

Despite its construction material, concrete, which often is linked to a “heavy” idea, Kaleva Church makes a wonderful use of light with high columns of windows going from floor to roof. The building has 18 entrances and are all different in size. On the roof, there is a cross shaped bell tower with three bells in it, otherwise there are no crosses on the exterior. As the floor plan of the church resembles a fish, it clearly is a recollection of the proto-Christian’s symbol, since the “fish” was called in ancient Greek “ἰχθύς” (ichthus) meaning “Iesus Christus Theos Uios Soter” (Jesus Christ God’s Son Saviour).

The church hall is special too as it offers the most impressive space perception experience with a total height of 30 meters: the high, narrow windows and the light colour emphasize the feeling of space, freedom and heavenly openness. The rafters are four meters wide, the longest is 35 meters. The floor is covered with beige coloured clinker bricks and it slants half a meter down to the altar, which ensures an un-hindered view to the altar from all parts ofthe church. The room area is 1,200 m2 offering seating for 1120 people.

Besides the building, the Pietiläs also designed the interior of the church, inserting even more references to the biblic stories. The altar, the pews and the organ front are made out of Finnish pine wood. The wood sculpture above the altar is called “a broken reed” (Is. 42:3) and refers to the indestructible condition of those who believe in Christ: they will appear as broken reeds but they will never truly break. It is a message of endurance, resistance and perseverance. The organ with 41 registers, three manuals and one pedal were ordered from the nearby organ factory of Kangasala in 1966, the front is 16 meters high and designed by the Pietiläs. The church of Kaleva is a well-functioning centre of action:there are rooms for different church activities on three stories (diaconia, confirmation classes, child work, studies etc), allunder one roof, which has proved to be very practical.

As we previously mentioned, the church was built out of concrete with the slipform casting method for twelve days and twelve nights. The outside walls were covered with beige coloured bricks, the inside walls are still plain concrete, the rough surface resembling the coarse fibers of unbleached linen.

The church of Kaleva is one of the most unique church buildings in Finland and therefore belongs to the most famous sights in Tampere. One of the Pietiläs peculiarities was to no use rectangular shapes, and so the church of Kaleva has no rectangles either. Nature was the main source of inspiration for the Pietiläs, and the buildings were designed to blend in with the surroundings. This building was one of the first and also the dearest projects for the architects. The unconventional building raised a lot of lively discussion even during the construction work with some critics arguing it was too audacious.

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