TEMPPELIAUKIO CHURCH (ROCK CHURCH), Helsinki Finland

This church was excavated into the granite bedrock and completed in 1969. The elliptical church is roofed by a 13m-high and 24m-diameter copper dome (requiring 22km of copper tape). Light enters from narrow skylights between the rock wall and the dome. The 5-9m high excavation wall surface with blasting marks left rough for acoustic and aesthetic reasons. The altar wall is a split in the rock dating to the Ice Age. The altar table is granite, the floor polished concrete and the pulpit reinforced concrete. There are no bells but a chime melody played through loudspeakers.
Wow, what a spectacular place. The walls are extremely rough and topped by a short wall of excavated rock on which the dome sits. There is a small balcony with more pews. The pews have taupe padded seats.