Carl Ludvig Engel designed Helsinki Cathedral as the climax of his Senate Square layout. Work began in 1830, and Engel died in 1840. The cathedral was inaugurated on February 15, 1852. His successor, Ernst Lohrmann, altered the design, adding four small domes, two flanking buildings and the apostle statues. The style is Neoclassical.
The plan is a Greek cross, with a colonnade and pediment on each arm's facade. A tall green dome is surrounded by four smaller domes. Twelve larger-than-life zinc statues of the apostles stand at the roofline, set up in 1849.
It was built as a tribute to Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and it was called St Nicholas's Church until Finland declared full independence in 1917. It is the cathedral of the Evangelical Lutheran diocese of Helsinki, seats 1,300 and drew about half a million visitors in 2018.
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