Elimäki church 27.7.2015

I was driving to my parents and wanted to shoot at least one dogs and chuchs -photo and so I made a little detour and stopped at this church in the village where my grandfather comes from. Unfortunately there were a no dogs -sign (maybe because the church is surrounded by a cemetary) and some elderly ladies standing in front of the church so I couldn't take my pictures. However, when I decide something, it is difficult to scrap the idea, so I made a new detour on my way home. It was already almost eleven o'clock and therefore getting dark, but luckily I managed to shoot some photos.

Elimäki church was built in 1638 and is one of the oldest wooden churches in Finland. This baroque style cross church has cultural historically very valuable three-pieces-altar painting from the former church. I couldn't find any information to the painter, but it was donated by Casper Wrede, who brouht it as plundering from the thirty years's war.

Kymi church 27.7.2015

I visited my parents in Kotka and my mother and I went shopping. I decided to stop at this church. The family of my mother comes from this region, so we have had many ceremonies - for example weddings and funerals - there. 

This present church of Kymi is the second oldest building still in use in whole Kotka. It was inaugurated in midsummer 1851. The neoclassical empire style church was built of wood and stone following C. L. Engel's design. The altar painting is called Jesus in Gethsemane was painted by Berndt Godenhjelm in 1865. The previous wooden church of Kymi burned in 1837 and as the following church was not even completely finished in 1843 it was destroyed by arson. My mother knew it was the sacristan who burned the church for a reason, but why, that didn't she remember and unfortunately I also found nothing about it in internet.

Padasjoki church 20.7.2015

We had a nice summer day in Padasjoki with my parents. My father wanted to see the old neighborhoods where he spent many summers as he was a child. There were a lot of changes but we still found the house of his grandmother, my great grandmother, and the house of her sister. I had all my four dogs with me, but because we were walking some kilometers, I decided to leave my oldest one in the car, because her legs get tired easily. The cover photo is also taken here.

This evangelical church in Padasjoki was built in 1926 - 1928. The first church in this place was built however already in the 15. century. The altar painting, called "Rescurrection", was rescued from fire as the older church burned in 1924, and it is painted by Alexandra Frosterus-Saltin.

Mikkeli Cathedral 8.2.2015

I was spending a weekend in Mikkeli because of my Finnish teacher studies at the University of Eastern Finland. While we had a lunch pause, I visited this beautiful cathedral and photographed my dogs on the steps - it was my first Dogs on the church step -photo, that's how I got the idea. It was a chilly winter day and I remember there was a lot of snow and my girls was playing and fooling around. I only had two of my four dogs with me. The two older ones were staying at home with my cats, my father was taking care of them.

Mikkeli Cathedral is an evangelical church designed by the Finnish church architect Josef Stenbäck and it was built in 1896 - 1897 and presents the gothic revival style. The altar painting "Crucified" was painted by Pekka Halonen in 1899.