Finland - Helsinki Cathedral (FI-499853)

I tried to make a variety on my blog by not posting cards from the same countries too often (my idea was to have just one card per country on each page, which contains 15 cards), which resulted in having almost 10 Finnish cards waiting to be posted. I think it's just impossible to stick to such rules if you exchange cards mainly through the official postcrossing system :) As I always visit postcard blogs / galleries of people that I sent cards to, I suppose that others can do the same and think that I dislike their cards, if they don't appear on my blog for a very long time. That's why I decided to "break" those rules a bit, at least for Finland :) I hope you don't mind it.

Now I have cards showing both cathedrals in Helsinki :) Not so long time ago I received one showing the Orthodox Cathedral and this one shows the Lutheran Cathedral. By the way, both Lutheran and Orthodox churches have national status in Finland, although only about 1% of Finns are Orthodox.

FI-499853

Helsinki Cathedral (in Finnish Helsingin tuomiokirkko or Suurkirkko, in Swedish Helsingfors domkyrka or Storkyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. The church was originally built as a tribute to the Grand Duke, Nicholas I, the Tsar of Russia and until the independence of Finland in 1917, it was called St. Nicholas' Church. A distinct landmark in the scenery of central Helsinki, with a tall green dome surrounded by four smaller domes, the church was built in 1830-1852, in neoclassical style. Today the cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Helsinki. Annually more than 350,000 people visit the church, some of them to attend religious events, but most are tourists. The church is in regular use for both worship services and special events such as weddings.