Iisalmen vanha kirkko

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

The old church of Iisalmi is an exceptionally large unequal-armed cruciform church. In the sacristy of the church there is an unusually fine series of portraits of the parish vicars, beginning with Henrik Helsingius, painted by Mikael Toppelius in 1756.

Above the crossing of the church rises a central tower formed within the valleys of the roof. The sacristy is at the east end of the church, behind the altar. Of the fixed furnishings of the nave, the pulpit, pews, wrought-iron choir screen and the pilasters articulating the painted log walls date from the 1920s.

The church stands on a hill near the eastern shore of Kirkkosalmi, which projects northwards from Porovesi. Its immediate surroundings are a leafy cemetery sloping towards the water, which has been extended on several occasions.

Near the church are the graves, with their memorials, of the writers Juhani Aho, Kauppis-Heikki and Eino Säisä. At the east edge of the cemetery stands a funeral chapel designed by architect Rafael Blomstedt in 1952. The area of the vicarage, located north of the church at the end of a birch alley, has been completely renewed.

The Ostrobothnian-type bell tower north of the church dates from the mid-18th century.

History

The Iisalmi church parish was formed in 1620 from the northern parts of the mother parish of Kuopio. Originally it comprised the whole of Ylä-Savo. The present parishes of Kiuruvesi, Lapinlahti, Pielavesi, Sonkajärvi and Vieremä were established as its chapels. The old church was the parish's third. The first was destroyed by fire in 1700, and the second, a cruciform church, was demolished in poor condition after the present church was completed.

The church, built in 1779-1780 under the direction of church builder Simon Silvén from Kalajoki, was renovated in its interior and exterior architecture and furnishings in 1876, according to a proposal drawn up by architect F. A. Sjöström, when among other things the interior vault was removed. In 1927, in a restoration by architect Rafael Blomstedt that was one of the first restorations of wooden churches, the church was returned to its original appearance, using the baroque-classical formal idiom of the 1920s. Since then, changes made to the church have been minor.

The vicarage that was located north of the church was moved to the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum. Only a large stone cowshed and the birch alley remain of the vicarage.