Tammelan kirkko

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

Tammela stone church was built in two phases, in the early 16th century and in the 1780s extension, and in its present form is the mother church of Lounais-Hämeen.

The church's older, medieval part is distinguished by being slightly narrower than the rest of the nave. The relatively low-walled and exceptionally long stone church has a gentle pantile roof. The tall west tower has a baroque-style curved roof ending in a lantern.

The whitewashed church hall is covered by a continuous barrel vault. In the area of the original church, the pews in the chancel are exceptionally transverse. The baroque-style pulpit was donated in 1640 by Governor Count Lorentz Creutz the Elder, who owned the Saari manor. Furnishings from the 17th century also include the funeral achievement of captain of cavalry Gerhard Fredrik Kuhlman (d. 1694), with swords. The cupboard clock on the east wall of the chancel was donated by the Saari manor in 1792. The altarpiece depicting the Transfiguration of Christ, painted by R.W. Ekman, was completed in 1860.

To the west of the church is the burial chapel of the Pirttilä and Heikka farms from 1803, connected to the stone fence. In front of the church is a grey granite memorial to the Hakkapeliitta, erected in 1932.

History

The old parish of Portaan was divided at the end of the Middle Ages into two, Somero and Tammela. The stone church dedicated to Pyhä Mikael was built at the end of the Middle Ages, apparently in the first half of the 16th century. The church was a small, rectangular pitkäkirkko, with a sacristy and an asehuone attached to its side.

The stone church was extended in 1781-1785 to almost three times its length and equipped with a tall west tower intended for bells. The construction work was carried out under master mason Matts Arelin, according to drawings by the Yli-intendentinvirasto. The old church hall remained as a chancel narrower than the new nave.

Burials under the church floor and in the churchyard ended in 1812, when a new cemetery was established on the other side of the road.

The sacristy was rebuilt twice its former size in 1829, to plans by the Intendenttikonttori. The church's fixed interior was renewed in the 1880s, except for the pulpit.