In the Kingdom of Sweden, the Lutheran Reformation was set in motion by the decision of the 1527 Diet of Västerås to induce the churches to start preaching the pure Gospel. This required vernacular texts, a necessity for the Evangelical service, in both Swedish and Finnish, and obtaining them became the priority. Finland was a territory of the Kingdom of Sweden and formed the unitary diocese of Turku (Swe. Åbo) from the Middle Ages until 1554, when King Gustav Vasa (r. 1523-1560) founded the diocese of Vyborg (Swe. Viborg; Fin. Viipuri) to cover the eastern part of Sweden.

The first couple of decades after the Diet of Västerås, the Reformation brought about only scant external changes in the interiors of Finnish churches. The church furnishings that had taken their form in the late Middle Ages started to acquire new, recognizably Lutheran characteristics only in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Forming a precise overall picture of the church design culture in Reformation-era Finland is impossible, since no information on the paintings or the decors of destroyed wooden churches has survived. The phases of the furnishings in medieval stone churches are slightly easier to track. Obtaining new interiors was hindered by the poor financial situation of the parishes, caused in turn by the confiscation of Church property by the Crown during the reign of Gustav Vasa. A significant part of the property of the earlier Catholic era was transferred to the state, and the state economy was also patched by imposing heavy taxes and payments. The confiscation of precious metals, such as liturgical silver, was a clear sign of the end of the medieval universalist Church culture in Sweden and of the king taking control of the Church. The systematic development of Lutheran church interiors was therefore only started when the financial situation of the parishes improved. Models for the Finnish church furnishings that were standardized during the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy were found in the mother country.

Judging by international standards, the Nordic churches that adopted the Lutheran form of the Reformation have conserved the medieval material tradition in exceptionally diverse ways.