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Resurrection Chapel
Cemetary, Turku
1939 - 1941
While Europe was suffering World War II (1939–1945) a new funeral chapel, designed by the architect Erik Bryggman, was built in the cemetery of Turku. Building work started in the spring 1939 and was interrupted by the Winter War (between Finland and the Soviet Union). The fate of soldiers killed in action and the pain of their bereaved families influenced Bryggman in the design of details of the chapel. He wanted the building to provide comfort for those broken by death and grief. The Chapel of the Resurrection was completed in the spring of 1941, on the eve of the Continuation War. It became an international attraction and is considered to be the most beautiful funeral chapel in all of the Nordic countries.
The Chapel of the Resurrection fits brilliantly but gently into the surrounding landscape. When the chapel was built, the mature trees surrounding it were spared. Today, that is common practice in Finland, but at the time it was a rarely seen approach. Visible through the chapel’s large windows, the natural beauty outside becomes an intrinsicelement within it. Just as humankind is a part of nature, so too does this building fit organically within its surroundings. The chapel has excellent acoustics. The organ is a from 1958 by a Finnish organ builder and has two manuals and 30 stops.
(Text: www.turunseurakunnat.fi)