St John's Church

The Lutheran church stands on a hill where city residents once lit bonfires for the Midsummer holiday. Its name is linked to this custom: the bonfire day coincides in the church calendar with the birthday of John the Baptist. A bronze statue of him stands at the main entrance, while the Apostle Paul is depicted above the altar inside. On Sundays, the Swedish-speaking parish gathers here, and on other days the church hosts wedding ceremonies and concerts.

On December thirteenth, eighteen ninety-one, Helsinki consecrated its third large Lutheran church. The Old Church and St Nicholas Church—the present cathedral—were no longer enough for the rapidly growing city. For a long time, the new building was simply called the New Church. But above its altar, a space remained without a commissioned painting.

The church council held a competition. Albert Edelfelt, a Finnish artist who had recently moved his family from Paris to Helsinki, was seeking this commission. Portraits provided a substantial part of his income, while his financial situation was at times precarious. A large altarpiece for a new church in the capital meant paid work and a permanent place for his work.

Edelfelt submitted several sketches and took both first and second place. Bethlehem, with a scene of the Adoration of the Shepherds, was declared the winner. However, the church's architect, Adolf Emil Melander, assigned the painting a high, narrow space within the altar framing. Edelfelt considered such a space unsuitable for his composition. The artist and architect did not reach an agreement, and the church council stopped the work.

The competition was nevertheless not lost for Edelfelt. In eighteen ninety-four, he reworked the composition for a church in Vaasa. There, Adoration of the Shepherds became his only realized altarpiece. In Helsinki, the competition winner left nothing on the altar.

Only four decades later, another Finnish artist, Eero Järnefelt, filled the space intended for the painting. In nineteen thirty-two, his The Beatific Vision was installed here—the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the future Apostle Paul. It is Paul who is depicted above the altar now.

The church's name refers to another person. After the division of the city parish in nineteen oh five, the New Church officially came to be called St John's Church. The choice was linked to the hill itself. Helsinki residents lit bonfires here for the Midsummer holiday, which coincides in the church calendar with the birthday of John the Baptist—the preacher who baptized Jesus.

Now, on Sundays, the Swedish-speaking St John's Parish holds Mass here; the church also hosts wedding ceremonies and concerts. Since two thousand three, a statue of John the Baptist by Kari Juva has stood at the main entrance. Inside, Järnefelt's Paul remains above the altar, while Edelfelt's Adoration of the Shepherds, intended for this place, is in Vaasa.