Honkanummi Funerary Chapel

Bryggman won the 1953 Helsinki Congregation Chapel architectural competition in Honkanummi. His entry Aeternitas presented a scheme with two separate chapels: the southern chapel has seating for 120 and the northern one for 60 people. The two chapels are joined by a low wing that comprises a waiting area for relatives. Upon arrival the triangular gables of the chapels are seen next to each other. Both roofs are clad with wooden shingles. A tall cross stands in front of the larger chapel and the façade is decorated by a relief by Jussi Vikainen (1957).

The beams bearing the roof dominate the interior of the larger chapel. The floor is laid with rough schist flagstones. The pews are placed at an angle so that mourners’ gaze is directed through the southern windows to the graveyard – a gest familiar from the Resurrection Chapel. The altar is raised by three steps above the nave floor, and light falls onto the altar from three roof windows on the south pane. A cross is attached to the altar wall and four figures – a lily, a hive, a star, and a three-pronged star – are set deep into the wall surface – another reminiscent of the Resurrection Chapel.

The smaller chapel has a brick floor. The light falls at the rear of the space from a large window on the south side, which is laid with antique coloured glass.

In the basement there is a circular chapel for handing the urn to the relatives or for viewing the deceased. The space has a domed ceiling and insets for acoustical reasons.

Text: Mikko Laaksonen