Finland was a part of Sweden until 1809, and the national parish of the Finnish Church was established in Stockholm in 1533, at the time accommodated in the old abbey of the Blackfriars. A building constructed on the present site 1648-1653, originally intended for ball games, and thus called Lilla bollhuset (‘Small Ball House’), but mostly used as a theatre, was taken over by the Finnish parish in 1725 from when the irregularly shaped building stems. In the interior, the organ loft still resembles the gallery of the old Boll House. As the church never had an accompanying graveyard, the Church of Catherine on Södermalmwas of great importance to the Finnish parish until the 19th century.
