Renovation of Pertunmaa Church
Location
Pertunmaa, Finland
Address
Kirkkotie , 19430 Pertunmaa
Year
1925
Status
Unrealized
The church authorities hesitated between two alternatives: moving the old wooden church of the village of Gustav Adolf (Hartola) from 1684-93 - no longer needed on its old site - to the location, or building a new church. Aalto presented two versions of a plan for a new, single-aisle wooden church, on a 1:200 scale, to the church council. One is in Romanesque style, with a whole gable covered with blind arcades, while the other is Neo-Classical, with a meander strip under the eaves and a decorative tabernacle-shaped window in the pitched roof above the entrance. Both versions include a free-standing campanile. The interior is an unadorned hall with a Classicistic pulpit and a simple crucifix over the altar. Estimated total cost 56,000 marks. The council chose to move the double-cross church of Gustav Adolf, acquired as a donation, to the site. Aalto drew up a proposal for the renovation of this church, suggesting that it should be decorated with pilaster strips at the corners and a clumsy lantern. The council, however, commissioned a local talent, M. Vihonen, to design the alterations.