Holy Cross Church in Hattula

Holy Cross Church in Hattula serves as one of the churches of the local Lutheran congregation. As a museum church is open during most of the summer season and offers guided tours for individual tourists. Groups must book tours in advance. The Lutheran congregation in Hattula arranges Sunday services and concerts in the Holy Cross Church during the summer.

The church has pages on Facebook and Instagram, these channels provide up-to-date information on exceptional schedules. Follow @pyhanristinkirkko.

Holy Cross Church was built at the end of the 15th century, making it about five hundred years old. One of the distinctive features of the church is its red brick, as grey stone was the usual material of construction in Finland at the time. Only three medieval buildings in Finland were made of brick: the Turku Cathedral, the Castle of Hämeenlinna and this church.

The church contains about two hundred paintings. They were painted at the beginning of the 16th century (1510). The identity of the painters is unknown but they were most likely Finns, possibly nuns. The technique was called al secco. The pictures were painted on a dry surface with colors dissolved in lime-water.

The church contains many wooden sculptures. The oldest of them is the triumph crucifix, made by the master of Lieto, the first known Finnish sculptor. There are two pulpits in the church. The smaller one is the oldest extant pulpit in Finland, donated to the church in 1550. The other pulpit is from the 18th century. Both of them are hand made by Finnish artisans.