Nummi church

Nummi church is a neoclassical greystone church built in 1822. The church is built in the form of a cross with a tall bell tower on the eastern side of the church. The blueprints were made by A. N. Edelcrantz in the Royal Intendant Office in Stockholm, in 1807. It’s likely that Nummi had a small village church made of wood in the 16th century. In the 17th century, Nummi had for certain their own wooden church which was called the Chapel of St. Jacob. 

It’s natural that this large stone church was built in Nummi, which was known for being a wealthy village in the middle of good road and water connections by the beautiful lake Pitkäjärvi. 

Verses from the Bible are written on top of all the main doors leading to the church.

Altogether 850 people fit inside the Nummi church making it the largest church in Lohja parish by the number of seats.

Points of interest

Crucifix

The oldest object in the church is a large wooden crucifix from the late 14th century. This crucifix was donated to an earlier wooden church, constructed in 1635, in Nummi. Before the donation, this crucifix was held in St. Lawrence’s church in Lohja. The wooden church of Nummi has later been deconstructed. 

The altar painting

The two-piece altar painting of Nummi church was painted by A. Jägerplan in Stockholm in 1825. The lower-hanging painting represents the Last Supper and the higher-hanging painting shows crucified Jesus.

The organ

Kangasala Organ factory made the current organ with 20 organ stops in 1973. The facade of a former organ, which was made by Gustaf Normann’s organ factory in Tallinn in 1864, is still on display in the Nummi church. This is only a facade so the old organ is not playable anymore. 

Restauration and stained glass

Nummi church underwent a complete renovation in 1922 when the church turned 100 years old. The roof was fixed, the old floor was replaced, the benches were reformed and the door at the end of each bench row was removed. Architect Ilmari Launis designed new stained glass windows in the apses of Nummi church. The stained glass window on the southern wall shows the suffering and the death of Christ whereas the stained glass window on the northern wall shows Christ defeating death and being the king of kings.  

Decorations on the church roof

The roof of the bell tower is decorated by a weather vane with the sun and the moon. Also, there are three crosses and a flaming sun which symbolizes the righteousness of God.

Other points of interest

The pulpit in Nummi church dates back to the 1640s. The wedding ryijy was made by the local Martha organization in Nummi, in 1955. The church textiles are made and designed by Impi Laaksonen in 1974. 

Graveyard

The monument by the war graves was designed by Emil Filén in 1951. The monument is called A wounded soldier wading in the snow.

Misfortune

The bell tower was hit by lightning in the summer of 2008 causing several of the wooden structures of the upper part of the bell tower to start to smolder. The fire brigade was alarmed by the church caretaker Matti Vierto after 4 am in the morning. Vierto had gotten a message of a failure in the automatic church emergency system to his phone, and therefore he decided to climb to the tower to see what was going on. The automatic system was not responding due to a severe hit by lightning and hence the fire brigade was not immediately alerted to the church. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished quickly and the bell tower was fixed later.


 

Nummen kirkko ilmasta käsin.
Nummen kirkko sisältä.