Aalto's Church of the Cross, Lahti, Finland

My first blip of this church was taken on a cold and dull day, back on September 10th, 2012. Today it was sunny with a bright blue sky, and a cold crisp edge in the air as autumn descends on Lahti, 100kms north of Helsinki.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Cross in Lahti was designed by famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in 1978. It is not only a bright and modern structured church, it also serves as a concert space and conference centre. Aalto defined the church as Gethsemane, a garden of peace at the city centre.

This stunning building is located on a hill in the center of this city of 100,000 people, and can easily be seen from the market square which is basically the centre of Lahti. This was the fourth and last church Aalto built in Finland.

The outside is in red brick and the interior is white and the furniture consists of natural light wood. A specialty of the design is the large cross in the form of many small windows in the front wall above the main entrance. Seen in my Extras.

The main room of the church is dominated by large windows that allow a lot of natural light to enter the building, a typical Aalto element. You can see my photo of the pipe organ in this natural light, taken exactly one year ago on October 6th, 2014.

In the church park on the right hand side there is a sculpture of an angel like figure by Wäinö Aaltonen called “Spirit of Freedom”. Seen in my Extra photo.

The Church of the Cross is one of Aalto's most stunning works. Since I have discovered this church, it is the first place I visit each year on my return to Lahti. Whenever I visit this building I discover some new and interesting detail that I had not noticed before.