Tampere Cathedral is among the most significant National Romantic buildings in Finland. It was built during a time when Finland was still under Russian rule. Independence was growing nearer, and a strong spirit of Nationalism was reflected in all the creative work of the time. When finished, Tampere Cathedral gave a boost of confidence to the Finnish people, who were just starting to find their feet as a nation. The church was evidence of Finland’s ability to create something of its own.

The Cathedral is situated in Tampere, the third largest city in Finland, and is the most important cultural attraction of the city. The church has often been described as “magnificent”, “impressive”, and “unique”. Clearly it is a combination of beautiful architecture, skilled craftsmanship and priceless art. But why, exactly, is this building considered so extra-ordinary? How did it come into existence?

A Need for a New Church at the End of the 19th Century

By the end of the 19th century, Tampere had become the main industrial centre in Finland. The banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the town centre were full of factories. The population in Tampere had been growing with the industrialisation. More people meant that the three churches1 in the centre of Tampere at that time were not enough for the town's increased population (Kivinen 13, 15).

In 1887 the need for a new church was finally acknowledged in a meeting of the church council. K.O Fontell, who was the minister of the congregation, brought the subject up and suggested that taxes should be gathered from the congregation to build the new church. His suggestions were approved unanimously. Hence in 1898, the church council decided to announce a competition for architects. The competition was officially opened in 1899 with notices published in all the major newspapers in Tampere and Helsinki (Kivinen 17).

The competition gave strict guidelines for the new church: it should be made of bricks, grey-granite stone, or both; there should be seats for 2500 people; and the budget should not exceed 600,000 marks. A tower with a bell and heating were also mentioned in the demands. The church should resemble a Lutheran temple of God in every way; for example, the pulpit should be in such a place that every member of the congregation could see the preacher. The place of the church would be on the east side of the Tammerkoski rapids, not far from the bank (Kivinen 18).

Lars Sonck: the Architect of the Church

The committee responsible for evaluating the designs for the new church consisted of three architects from Helsinki, and an engineer as well as minister K.O Fontell from Tampere. There were also two vice-members in the committee, both of whom were architects. By the competition deadline, which was the 31st of October 1900, the committee had got 23 design suggestions for the new church (Kivinen 17-18).

When appraising the designs, the committee noticed that the majority of the architects had not taken into account the demands of the competition, which led to the exclusion of 15 designs. Ultimately, the winner was decided unanimously. He was Lars Sonck with his design Aternitas (“Eternity” in Latin) (Kivinen 19).

Sonck (1870-1956) had designed a church that was perfectly fitted to its surroundings. In addition, he had carefully taken into account all the demands and wishes the church council had set (Hirvonen 8-9). His design was elegant and impressive.

Sonck was an exceptionally talented architect, for he was only 31 years old when he designed this masterpiece. Even so, Tampere Cathedral was not his first major work: Sonck had already won a competition to design Michael’s Church in the Finnish town of Turku, when he was only 23. His other works include Kallio Church in Helsinki and various villas in the southwest of Finland, among others, but Tampere Cathedral is regarded as Sonck’s most important work.

The Building Work

The building of the church got started on the first of April 1902. The majority of the workmen were from Tampere. There were no machines to help the builders in their work: the church is all “handmade”. Horses were used to drag the huge granite rocks to the building ground from Pinsiö and Kuru, which are just outside Tampere, as well as from Uusikaupunki, which is on the southwest coast of Finland. The job was difficult: there was at least one steep hill and one bridge on the way. The rocks weighed 10-15 tons, and people were afraid that the bridge would collapse under the weight of the rocks. Fortunately, it didn’t (Hirvonen 13).

The Towers of Tampere Cathedral (January 2005) Photographs by Elisa Valtonen

At the time the church was being built there was a strong spirit of Nationalism in Finland. Hence, there was a desire to construct everything related to the new church in Finland using Finnish materials. Indeed, only the bells were made in Germany: there was no suitable equipment for making them in Finland. The three bells, in the highest tower of the Cathedral, make up the common chord of B-major 2. The famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius recommended that particular chord for the bells (Kivinen 71).

The church stood completed in spring 1907.The church council decided to name the new temple of God St. John’s church. It became a cathedral in 1923, when the bishopric was transferred from the Finnish town of Porvoo to Tampere (Härkönen 1). Outside, the church looks Gothic, but actually, three different styles are combined. The tall towers with their small windows are typically Gothic. There are also National Romantic elements, for example, in the ornamentations inside (see National Romantic Elements in the Church). The third style is art nouveau. This can be seen in the furniture of the church, for example.

Although Sonck designed the church according to the guidelines of the competition, there are two things that didn’t work out the way the committee had wanted. There are seats for only approximately 2,000 people in the church, although the original idea was to provide seats for 2,500 people. In addition, there are some seats in the church from which the view to the pulpit is blocked, although in general the preacher can be seen well by almost every member of the congregation.

Tampere Cathedral has a very special place in the hearts of the city’s inhabitants. The church was recently voted the most beautiful building in the leading regional newspaper, Aamulehti (Tuomiokirkko). It is not, however, only the citizens of Tampere who hold this church precious. The Cathedral gets some 30,000 visitors every summer, many of whom are foreigners ³.

The Organs

There are two organs in Tampere Cathedral; both were made in Finland. The bigger one was installed in 1906. At first, it was 50-register, but in 1928-1929 it was made 68-register4. The organ is considered one of the best Romantic organs in Finland. The smaller organ was installed in the North Gallery in 1983. It is a 23-register organ with 1516 pipes. That organ is especially suited to Baroque music (Kivinen 65, 68).

The acoustics in the Cathedral are very good, and there are numerous concerts throughout the year. In the summer famous international organists visit the Cathedral: there is usually a concert every Sunday evening. Both organs are used in concerts, but only the bigger one is usually used in services and ceremonies.

The Artwork in the Church

In addition to the impressive façade, Tampere Cathedral is known for its interior paintings. The artwork in the Cathedral is very unconventional and symbolic. Two Finnish artists, Hugo Simberg and Magnus Enckell, were chosen to do the decoration. Albert Edelfelt5, a Finnish painter, recommended them for the job; Edelfelt was the most famous artist in Finland at that time (Kivinen 74).

The two artists were given complete freedom to express themselves. They decided that Enckell, who was a bit older and more experienced, would design the decoration in the chancel, and Simberg would decorate the rest of the church. Simberg started the work. In the fall of 1904, in a letter to his sister, Simberg wrote:

In a couple of days, I can start my work in the church, and I am waiting for that moment with a solemn respect. First, I am going to paint a snake up on the ceiling. My mind is so occupied with the oncoming work that I am hardly aware of existing⁶. (in Kivinen 76)

When the church was opened to the public in 1907, some of the paintings, especially the snake that Simberg, indeed, had painted on the ceiling, caused a scandal, because they were not typical church art, and the subjects were not all Biblical (see The Snake). Nowadays, however, the artwork in the Cathedral is considered an important part of Finnish art and cultural history. The paintings belong to the masterpieces of the Golden Era of Finnish art: a time at the turn of the century during which several significant paintings, inspired by The National Romantic Movement, were created.

Hugo Simberg: A Uniquely Talented Artist

Hugo Simberg was born in a little town called Hamina in southern Finland in 1873. Simberg studied at an art school in Viipuri7 and at the Art Society’s drawing school in Helsinki. However, rather soon Simberg gave up studying, because he felt misunderstood by his teachers, who considered his paintings clumsy and childish. Curiously, one of his teachers in Helsinki was Helene Schjerfbeck⁸, whose paintings are nowadays in great demand (Valkonen, Finnish 87).

After leaving the art school in Helsinki, Simberg wrote a letter to Axel Gallén⁹, a painter who had established a firm position as an artist in Finland and whom Simberg greatly admired. Simberg asked if Gallén could start teaching him. Gallén agreed, and in 1895 Simberg went to stay with him. Gallén lived in the countryside in a place called Ruovesi, near Tampere. In Gallén, Simberg found an encourager and a friend who truly understood his art. Right after moving to Ruovesi, at the age of only 21, Simberg painted some of his most famous paintings, including the watercolour Frost (1895). Nowadays the painting is considered an emblem of Finnish Symbolism (Valkonen, Finnish 87).

In his career, Simberg concentrated on depicting fairytale-like figures, like trolls and little devils, of Finnish folk tales. Through those, he pondered the battle between good and evil. Death was also a dear subject to Simberg. He saw it as melancholically comic, not tragic or terrible. In general, Simberg was a quite mysterious artist; he didn’t like to explain his paintings (Hirvonen 38). Simberg’s paintings are very imposing; it is impossible to ignore them.

Nowadays Simberg is recognized as a uniquely talented artist who has made history in both Finnish art and Symbolism in general. In addition to Frost and The Artist’s Aunt, Simerberg’s most famous works are Fall 1. and 2. (1895), Death and the Peasant (1895), By the River of Life (1896), The Farmer’s Wife and The Poor Devil with Her Twins (1899), Dream (1900), and The Wounded Angel (1903).

Simberg’s Artwork in the Church

Simberg’s paintings in Tampere Cathedral are considered to be among his most significant works. Besides the ceiling, Hugo Simberg decorated the wall of the gallery, designed six of the church’s seven stained glass windows, and painted two frescos. Several sketches have been found that prove Simberg spent considerable time planning his work: the paintings are the result of much careful planning (Kivinen 80-82, 95, 98).

The Snake

The Snake is on a red background at the highest place on the ceiling. It has an apple in its mouth, as well as leather wings, which are spread. In general, a snake is a symbol of evil and sin. As soon as the church was opened to the public in 1907, the Snake, along with some other paintings, caused a scandal. Some members of the congregation wanted to get rid of the Snake, which was the most criticised painting in the church. The matter was actively discussed in the newspapers. Eventually, in May 1907, a special committee was set to ponder the propriety of the artwork. Some church members were strictly against the Snake, but the majority was for it (Kivinen 225). However, the propriety of the Snake was brought up again 40 years later during the visit of the bishop in 1946 (Kivinen 77). Fortunately, the Snake is still on the ceiling.

Why would Simberg paint a symbol of evil and sin in a church? Perhaps he wanted to remind us that there could be sin even inside the church (Stenbäck in Kivinen 77). Furthermore, it was noted that the Snake isn’t the only thing he painted there. There are angel wings around the Snake that are spread almost all around the church ceiling (Rautiainen in Kivinen 85). The Snake is trapped in between them. It seems that the angel wings protect the church from the evil and the sin the Snake represents. And why is it that the eye doesn’t catch the angel wings so easily? The symbol of evil is more striking, even though the wings cover considerably more space. The same phenomenon can be seen in life in general: one bad thing or event may sometimes hinder all the good in life.

The Garland of Life

After the Snake, Simberg started working on the fresco that covers the wall of the gallery. The fresco is called the Garland of Life. In it, there are twelve naked boys carrying a garland that has both roses of love and thorns of wrath. Simberg used 12-year-old boys from Tampere as models for the painting. Each boy carries the garland in his own way: for some, the garland seems light, for others, it is heavier. For one or two of the boys, it seems to be too heavy for their small shoulders (Kivinen 89).

The twelve boys are thought to represent the twelve disciples of Jesus. The garland symbolises life itself: there are roses and thorns in the garland, as there are good and bad times in life. Each boy’s individual position reflects that we are all different; everyone has his or her own burden to carry (Kivinen 89).

The magpie, the flames, and the snake in the dark forest, toward which the boys (below) are walking. Photograph by Elisa Valtonen

The fact that the boys are completely naked in the fresco was the cause of a row, too. Many people considered it inappropriate to have nudity in a church (in Kivinen 222, 226). On the other hand, the nudity could be seen as a way to remind us that, before the eyes of God, one can, and has to, reveal one’s sins and be natural.

The boys are walking towards a dark and rocky forest that is depicted on both sides of the fresco (the wall of the gallery is horseshoe-shaped). This is where the painting ends. There are eleven flames in a blackish tree in the forest, and if one takes a closer look, one can see a little snake climbing up the tree. Curiously, a magpie has also flown to the forest (Kivinen 90).

It is only natural to deduce that the forest symbolises death: the boys are walking towards the forest, as we all are walking through life towards death.

But what about the flames? There are eleven of them, although there are twelve boys. The flames are considered to be The Flames of The Holy Spirit. For one of the boys, there is no flame in the afterlife. That boy would be Judas. Instead of a flame, there is the snake. Simberg probably wanted to remind us of Judas’s betrayal of Jesus by placing a symbol of evil and sin near him. The magpie is also near Judas: in Finnish mythology the magpie is a symbol of shame.

Details of the Garland of Life

The Garden of Death

The Garden of Death is situated under the North Gallery. It is a square-shaped fresco (180 × 230 cm). There are three skeletons in black clothes depicted in the painting. At first, they may look scary, but actually, the skeletons are quite sweet: the one in the middle is smiling, and he is holding a flower near his chest. The other two seem to be engaged with their work: taking care of the plants and flowers in the garden.

The plants and flowers in the Garden of Death look very different from what we are used to: there are even black flowers. Photograph by Elisa Valtonen

What is this mystical place, “The Garden of Death”? According to Simberg, it is a place where souls go before entering Heaven (in Kivinen 106). The skeletons are little helpers of Death, and the plants and flowers are people’s souls (Kivinen 106).

This idea is not from the Bible, and therefore it was controversial. Not everyone approved of it, but many saw it as a way to understand death better. Maybe the artist tried to say that death doesn’t have to be an enemy. It can be a friend, and that’s why we don’t have to be afraid of it (Kivinen 105).

One can also see humour and irony in the painting; the whole idea of death can even be seen as a bit funny. Nowadays the painting is beloved and cherished in Finland: people take solace in the atmosphere of relief it conveys.

The Wounded Angel

Hugo Simberg’s most famous painting is probably The Wounded Angel. He painted two versions of it: first in 1903 as an oil painting on canvas and then, a few years later, again on the wall of Tampere Cathedral.

In the painting, two boys are carrying an angel who sits on a wooden stretcher. The boys look sad and solemn. The angel has blood on her wing, she is hanging her head down, and her eyes are covered with a bandage. Both the boys and the angel look defeated: the atmosphere in the painting is sad, but the beauty and the innocence of the angel lighten it a bit. Fortunately, the wound on her wing is quite small. What happened to the angel is not clear, but at least she will probably get better.

The Wounded Angel. Photograph by Elisa Valtonen

The two paintings of The Wounded Angel are very similar. In fact, there are only three clear differences. The first is that the one in the Cathedral has two chimneys in the background, the oil painting having none. The chimneys remind us that Tampere was the major industrial centre in Finland in the early 20th century. The second difference is that the shape of the waterline in the fresco is bendy, whereas in the oil painting it is straight. The third difference is the size: the fresco in the Cathedral is bigger (158×185 cm) compared to the oil painting (127×154 cm).

Although Simberg didn’t explain the painting, many explanations have been suggested for the Wounded Angel. Perhaps the angel symbolises Simberg himself; he had problems with his health at the time he was painting it (Kivinen 102). The angel may also symbolise Finland under Russian rule. Another explanation is that the angel is a symbol of faith.

It has been also thought that the boys have injured the angel in their foolishness and are now regretful and ashamed (Hirvonen 38). Like every masterpiece, The Wounded Angel can have several different meanings depending on who is looking at it; eventually, the meaning is in the eye of the beholder.

The Stained Glass Windows

Simberg also designed six of the seven stained glass windows in the Cathedral. The subjects of the windows are Biblical. Although the colours of the windows were criticised by some, Simberg’s choice of colours is very good: he managed to create a different kind of atmosphere for each window, depending on the subject. Although the windows are independent pieces of art, together they create a firm coherence that is one of the factors creating an elegant feeling inside the church.

The first window in the South Gallery is blue and white; in the middle on a red background there is a dove: an embodiment of the Holy Spirit (Härkönen 1988). The second window depicts The Burning Bush, orange being the main colour in that window. The one behind the organ is The Sun: a symbol of God. The window points towards the west: in the evenings the sun shines through it straight towards the altar of the Cathedral.

There are three windows in the North Gallery. The one nearest The Sun is a Pelican, feeding her young with her heart’s blood: a symbol of Holy Communion. The two remaining windows depict Riders of The Book of Revelation. In the middle window are The White and The Red Horse, symbols of peace and war. On the last window are The Pale and The Black Horse, symbols of death and famine, galloping side by side.

(L) The Dove, (LC) The Burning Bush, (RC) The Pelican, and (R) The Pale and Black Horses
Photographs by Elisa Valtonen

Magnus Enckell: Pioneer of Symbolism

Magnus Enckell was a pioneer of Symbolism, and probably the most important Symbolist artist in Finland. In fact, the 7th of March 1891 is considered the date when the history of Finnish Symbolism got its start: that is when Enckell arrived in Paris (Valkonen, Kultakausi 56). However, Enckell’s significance was not recognised straight away in Finland: at first, his paintings were considered nothing more than sketches (Valkonen, Finnish 79).

Enckell was born in 1870 in Hamina, which is the same town where Simberg was born. He also studied in The Finnish Art Society’s school, but, like Simberg, was disappointed with the teaching there, and moved to Paris to study at the Académie Julian. Right after moving to France, he painted some of the most significant works of his career. Enckell also travelled a lot in Europe. Seeing frescos especially in Italian churches was important for Enckell’s oncoming work in Tampere Cathedral (Kivinen 125). Some of Enckell’s most famous paintings are: Boy Reclining (1892), Young Boy and Skull (1893), The Awakening (1894), Fantasy (1895) and The Concert (1898).

Many of Enckell’s paintings portray nude boys and youths in simplified surroundings. A very limited use of colours was characteristic of his paintings at the beginning of his career. Later he started using bright colours in his works. Enckell tried to capture perfection and ultimate beauty in his paintings. With the nude boys, he explored the myth of androgyny, but the paintings also have homoerotic undertones. Enckell once wrote a poem about Antonius, the pet lover of the Emperor Hadrian; The Ruler of The Roman Empire from A.D. 117 until A.D 138. Antonius committed suicide in order to give the ruler his vitality (Valkonen, Finnish 79). Enckell addressed his words to Antonius:

“I, too, am your kin and swear you my oath: By your memory - mystical, mysterious, eternal, exalted, despised, holy - by all that you dream of, of beauty, of life, of unity, of love, of sacrifice, of perfection…” (in Valkonen 79)

Enckell’s Artwork in the Church

Magnus Enckell designed the decoration of the chancel: he painted the altarpiece and designed the stained glass window above it. Enckell started his work in the church at the end of 1906, but he had been interested in fresco painting for a long time: already in 1894, when he was travelling in Europe, he had been very impressed by the frescos he saw (Kivinen 125). In a letter to his friend he commented on a painting he had seen in a cathedral in Frankfurt:

My dear God, I hope I will be trusted with a task like that one day! 6 (in Kivinen 125)

The Altarpiece: The Resurrection

Enckell understandably felt nervous before starting the huge work he was trusted with: the altarpiece is over ten metres long, and almost four metres high. Furthermore, Enckell had not done any frescos before. Fortunately he could ask Simberg, who had also done his first frescos in the Cathedral, for advice, because Enckell began painting after Simberg had already finished his work in the church. When Enckell started the work in autumn 1906, he discovered that he enjoyed the work enormously. However, he had to take a break from it in April 1907: painting the huge altarpiece was apparently very tiring. The painting was finally ready in May 1907 (Kivinen 128-129).

Enckell’s fresco got excellent reviews. The fresco depicts the resurrection. On the left side, people are rising from their graves and joining another group of people who are walking towards Heaven together: the people’s positions and expressions in the group tell of anticipation, and their faces reflect light. In the painting there are different-looking people wearing all kinds of clothes: they represent different races and nationalities of the world (Kivinen 128-129). One hundred years ago this was a very modern idea.

Traditionally in an altarpiece there is a clear, visible Heaven with angels, and/or Hell with the doomed. Although the resurrection in Tampere Cathedral is depicted in an unusual way, it is possible to recognise familiar figures in it. The man and woman walking hand in hand in the front are thought to represent Adam and Eve. The woman with a child in her lap is Madonna with the little Jesus (Kivinen 129, 132).

The Cross Window, With Its 'Circles of Eternity'. Photograph by Elisa Valtonen

Enckell used a very narrow range of colours in The Resurrection. There are mainly different shades of grey, light brown, beige, and white. Although the colours in The Resurrection are very pale, the painting is not spiritless at all. In fact, when looking at the painting, one can get the feeling that there is a lot of energy in it.

The Resurrection logically completes the work Simberg started (Stenbäck in Härkönen, 25). Simberg’s Garland, which is a symbol of life, is situated among the seats of the Cathedral, where the members of the congregation are. The floor of the church rises where the Garland ends. There, a little nearer to the altar, is the black forest; a symbol of death. After that, there is the altarpiece: The Resurrection.

The Stained Glass Window of the Chancel

The stained glass window above the altarpiece depicts The Cross and The Crown; symbols of Christ and his suffering. The Cross is white and consists of little circles; they are symbols of eternity. The background is purple.

National Romantic Elements in the Church

As previously mentioned, all the building materials used in the church, except for the bells, were Finnish. The seats inside are made of Finnish spruce and birch, and are painted green to reflect Finland’s forests. The subjects of the rich ornamentation both inside and outside the church, designed by the architect Valter Jung, derive from Finnish flora and fauna (Kivinen 145). There is also an interesting detail on the ceiling in the north side of the church. Simberg painted figures of a spider there: Sibelius had a song called Ristilukki (“spider” in English) which was played on the radio as a protest song against the Russians at the time (Kivinen 85).

An Impressive Monument of Finnish Art

Tampere Cathedral came into existence for a simple reason: there was a need for a new church in the town because of the increased population. But the time during which the competition for the architects was being held (1899), and the church was being built (1902-1907) was also significant for Finnish history.

The south side of the Cathedral faces towards the city centre and the rapids. Photograph by Elisa Valtonen

As the Finns were striving towards independence, the Russians were trying to tighten their grip on them and limit their national rights. Hence, the atmosphere in Finland was very patriotic, and that feeling was also reflected in all the creative work of the time. Before the church was even completed, it aroused a lot of public interest. When the church was finished, it became a monument of The National Romantic Movement.

The art in the church was at first received with confusion and disapproval, which can be seen as evidence of its unique quality: all art masterpieces evoke strong reactions.

Now, almost a hundred years after the paintings were first exposed to the public, they have a firm position in Finnish art. People know them and love them.

Still, now and then, questions arise. Why are the boys naked? What are the skeletons doing? What happened to the angel? The paintings have been accepted, but they are still very much discussed.

With the hundredth year in the church’s history approaching, the Cathedral is as interesting as ever: it attracts both new and old visitors every year. And that is only natural: different elements meet in the building in a unique but harmonious way, making it a remarkable work of art in its own right. Lars Sonck, Hugo Simberg and Magnus Enckell, along with all the other people who contributed to the rise of the church, have created a truly wonderful monument of Finnish art for us to admire, cherish and be inspired by. Tampere Cathedral, indeed, is impressive.

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Notes:

1. The Old Church, Finlayson Church, and Alexander Church. (back)

2. The term used in English for the major scale with five sharps is B-Major, in Finnish it is H-duuri. (back)

3. The author of this paper has been working as a guide in the Cathedral. The guides count the tourists and keep a record of them. (back)

4. The pipes of an organ form groups that are called registers. One register is a continuous chromatic series of pipes from the lowest note of a keyboard to the highest one. The more registers an organ has, the more variation it can produce in terms of different sound effects and volume. (back)

5. Albert Edelfelt (1854-1905) was the first internationally recognized Finnish artist. He was born in Porvoo, in southern Finland. Edelfelt studied art first in Finland, and then in Antwerp, Belgium for a short while. Then he moved to Paris in 1874 and lived there several years. Edelfelt’s works represent Realism. He painted historical themes as well as contemporary subjects and portraits. Edelfelt’s most famous paintings include Queen Blanca (1877), Duke Charles Mocking the Body of Klaus Fleming (1878), A Child’s Funeral (1879), Boys Playing on the Beach (1884), Portrait of Louis Pasteur (1885) and The Luxembourg Garden, Paris (1887), to name but a few. (back)

6. Translation by Elisa Valtonen (back)

7. The town of Viipuri is part of the Karelia province, which Finland lost to the Soviet Union in the Second World War. In 1939, Viipuri was Finland's second biggest and the most cosmopolitan city with 74,000 inhabitants. Nowadays the city remains part of Russia and is not in a very good condition. (back)

8. Helene Schjerfbeck, who was born in Helsinki in 1862, was one of the few female artists at her time. At the age of only eleven she was accepted to the Art Society's drawing school, where the other pupils were considerably older than her. Between 1880 and 1894, Schjerfbeck spent most of her time abroad. She painted and studied in several European countries, developing from historical painting to Naturalism, and later to Symbolism. Schjerfbeck taught at the Finnish Art Society’s school between the years 1894-1899. After that, she withdrew to the countryside, where she lived rather isolated. She painted especially still lifes, figures and self-portraits. Her most famous works include: The Wounded Warrior in the Snow (1880), The Convalescent (1888), The Old Manor (1901), At Home (1903), The Still Life in Green (1930), and several self-portraits. (back)

9. Axel Gallén (1865-1931) was a versatile Finnish artist who started his career as a naturalist, but soon turned into a National Romantic symbolist who painted various themes. He was born in Pori on the west coast of Finland. Gallén played an important role in raising Finnish national identity in the country’s struggle to gain independence, and The Finnish National Epic, The Kalevala, became an inspiration for his work. Like Edelfelt and Schjerfbeck, Gallén also studied art in Paris, and the city inspired him to paint a few impressionist paintings, too. Some of Gallén’s most famous paintings are: Boy with a Crow (1884), Old Woman with a Cat (1885), Demasquee (1888), Symposium (1894), Ad Astra (1907) The Defense of the Sampo (1894) and Lemminkäinen’s Mother (1897). The last two depict events in The Kalevala.(back)

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Works Cited:

• Hirvonen, Yrjö. Tampereen Tuomiokirkko. Tampere: Tampereen kirjapaino-osakeyhtiö, 1946.
• Härkönen, Terttu, and Paula Kivinen. Tampere Cathedral. Tampere: Hämeen kirjapaino, 1988.
• Kivinen, Paula. Tampereen Tuomikirkko. Porvoo: WSOY, 1986.
• Tuomiokirkko on ehdoton ykkönen. Aamulehti, Moro 12 Nov 2003.
• Valkonen, Markku. Finnish Art Over the Centuries. Trans. Martha Gaber Abrahamsen and Malcolm Hicks. Keuruu: Otava, 1999.
• - - - . Kultakausi. Porvoo: WSOY, 1995.

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Last Updated 10 December 2010