On a Journey with Elsi and Tove – churches from Teuva to Taulumäki

The inspiration for the exhibition can be found in the 1950s in Ostrobothnia, when Borg’s late-period masterpiece, Teuva Church, was completed. The church was crowned with a powerful horizontal altarpiece by Jansson ”created using the al secco technique. It remained the only ecclesiastical work of Jansson’s career. The exhibition includes a full-size reproduction of this altarpiece with its original altar cloths, giving visitors the opportunity to examine the unique work up close in an imaginary altar space.

Teuva Church will serve as the starting point for the exhibition, which will take a look back at past decades up to Petäjävesi in the 1910s. Elsi Borg’s father, Nathanael Borg, was the parish priest there at the time. The Taulumäki church, designed by Elsi Borg, was completed in the late 1920s and was the first church designed by a female architect in Finland, a sensation of its time.

In addition to the churches, the exhibition also includes ”Ten Virgins” altarpiece by Tove Jansson. The altarpiece
and its themes lead us to reflect on the starting points and close cooperation between artists and designers
of the era. The image of the time is brought into focus in the broader context of the communities in relation to
their home churches. The view extends to the people of southern Ostrobothnia and Central Finland today.

The exhibition is produced by the Rural Building Heritage as a Local Resource project, managed by the Seinäjoki
Museum in cooperation with the Museum of Central Finland. The project has received innovative project
support from the National Board of Antiquities.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a commemorative workshop in Taulumäki Church on 27 August 2024, organised in cooperation with the Jyväskylä parish.

More information on the exhibition:

Oskari Luoma
Aalto2 Museum Centre
oskari.luoma@gmail.com
+358 45 134 8709

Intendentti Ilja Koivisto
Keski-Suomen museo
ilja.koivisto@jyvaskyla.fi
puh. 050 311 8879