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, 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 from 1627, which was expanded into a cruciform church in 1777.
| Place | Church | Built | Notes | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alastaro, Loimaa | Alastaro Church [fi] | 1754 | moved from Loimaa in 1841 | 
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| Jukkasjärvi, Kiruna | Jukkasjärvi Church [fi; sv] | 1726 | 
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| Kempele | Kempele Old Church [fi] | 1688–1691 | 
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| Kristinestad | Ulrika Eleonora Church, Kristinestad [fi] | 1700 | 
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| Muhos | Muhos Church [fi] | 1634 | 
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| Sodankylä | Sodankylä Old Church | 1689 | 
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| Temmes, Tyrnävä | Temmes Church [fi] | 1767 | 
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| Tervola | Tervola Old Church [fi] | 1687–89 | 
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| Tornio | Tornio Church [fi] | 1684–86 | 
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| Ullava, Kokkola | Ullava Church [fi] | 1783 | 
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| Utajärvi | Utajärvi Church [fi] | 1762 | 
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| Vörå | Vörå Church [fi] | 1626–27 | expanded to cruciform church in 1777 | 
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References
- 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 2018-01-12.
- ^ 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 2019-08-22. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
External links
Media related to Block pillar churches at Wikimedia Commons