Helsinki Cathedral - a beautiful building of great historical importance - is an Evangelical Lutheran church and for many people, a symbol of Helsinki as a whole. The Cathedral forms part of Helsinki’s Empire-style city centre. It was designed by the Prussian (German) architect Carl Ludwig Engel (1778–1840) in the early 19th Century, when Helsinki became the new capital of the then Grand Duchy of Finland. The Cathedral is said to be inspired by the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The first sketches for the Cathedral were completed as early as 1818. After Engel’s death the work was continued by Ernst Bernhard Lohrmann (1803–1870), another Prussian architect.
The church was finally consecrated in 1852 and named the Church of St Nicholas. Following Finland’s independence in 1917 it became known as the Great Church. When the Diocese of Helsinki was established in 1959, the name was changed into Helsinki Cathedral. It is one of the ten cathedrals of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.