The Old Church of Helsinki (Finnish: Helsingin vanha kirkko, Swedish: Gamla kyrkan i Helsingfors), designed by Carl Ludvig Engel and completed in 1826, is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Helsinki. The oldest existing church in central Helsinki, the church was originally planned as a temporary building as the Ulrika Eleonora Church constructed in 1727 had become too small for the congregation and the new church, Helsinki Cathedral, would not be completed until 1852. However, the city's rapid population growth from the early 19th century onwards ensured that the church would remain needed, and also necessitated the construction of many other churches.
History
The neoclassical wooden church was built under Engel's supervision between 1824 and 1826 and consecrated on 17 December 1826 by dean Johan Borgström. When the Ulrika Eleonora Church was demolished, the recovered building materials and part of the movables were auctioned but some of the furnishings including the pulpit, benches and chandeliers as well as the organ were relocated to the newly built church. These furnishings were however replaced over the years with the exception of the pulpit. A new 36 stop organ built by Per Larsson Åkermann was installed in 1869.
Oude Kerk (Dutch: "Old Church") may refer to:
Old Church may refer to:
Helsinki (/hɛlˈsɪŋki/; Finnish pronunciation: [ˈhelsiŋki]; Swedish: Helsingfors) is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. Helsinki has a population of 626,305, an urban population of 1.2 million (31 December 2013), and a metropolitan population of 1.4 million, making it the most populous municipality and urban area in Finland. Helsinki is located some 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) northeast of Stockholm, Sweden, and 388 km (241 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.
The Helsinki metropolitan area includes the urban core of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen, and surrounding commuter towns. It is the world's northernmost metro area of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of an EU member state. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Nordic countries and the City of Helsinki is the third largest Nordic city after Stockholm and Oslo.
Helsinki is an electoral district represented in the Finnish Eduskunta (parliament). It covers the administrative area of the city of Helsinki, with a population of 591,306 (as of 2011). Helsinki currently elects 21 members of the Eduskunta.
The constituency is urban, including the city centre of Helsinki and its eastern, mainly working-class suburbs. It does not include most of the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which falls instead under the constituency of Uusimaa. The largest party in the 2011 election was the centre-right National Coalition Party.
Green League had its best result in Finland and Centre Party worst result in this district