Heart Of Helsinki - Finland

A Tour Around The City Hall.

The Sea:   Helsinki is open to the sea. The historical city centre as we see it today was essentially                        built between the 1810s and 1840s, conceived as a splendid vista from the sea, the
                 Daughter of the Baltic or the Pearl of the Baltic, as the city has been known.  Its
                 monumental stone buildings crowned the surrounding clusters of wooden houses and
                 squares. Helsinki was protected by garrisons, principally the sea fortress of                                            Svaeborg (rendered in Finnish as Viapori), the Gibraltar of the North built on islands off
                 Helsinki beginning nin the 1740s.

The Tsar:   Between 1809 and 1917. Finland was part of the Russian Empire. Indeed, the Imperial                         capital city, St Petersburg, was only 35 km from the Finnish border, and connections were
                  close.  The Russian monarch,the Tsar, was also the Grand Duke of Finland, and the word
                  of the autocratic ruler was law. A handsome residence was maintained along Market
                  Square in Helsinki just in case the Tsar decided to pay a visit.

Subjects:   Helsinki was founded at the mouth of Vantaanjoki river in 1550, and people were                                 forcefully relocated to the new town by order of the King of Sweden, A  subsequent
                  royal command relocated the entire town 5 km to the south, to Vironniemi headland,
                  in 1640. Another major upheavel followede in 1808 when Helsinki was partly destroyed
                  by one of the many fires in the town's history, and in spring 1812 an Imperial edict
                  declared that Helsinki would henceforth be the capital city of Finland. J.A. Ehrenstrom
                  chairman of the rebuilding committee, planned a completely new city centre to replace the
                  one destroyed by fire.  Only the stone-built merchants' residences along Suurkatu (later
                  Aleksanterinkatu) remained in place as a reminder of days gone by, and even they were
                  not spared changes.

Soverment:  The Central Government of the newly created Russian Grand Duchy of Finland held seat                      for a few years in Turku, the largest and oldest city in Finland and traditionally the
                     centre of government  and culture. However, Turku was far too close to Sweden for
                     comfort as far as the Russians were concerned, both geographically and politically, and
                     in 1812  Helsinki was declared the capital city of Finland. The central government
                     offices relocated to Helsinki in early autumn 1819, when the main wing of the colossal
                     Senate Palace (today's Government Palace) had just been completed., Civil servants                              brought an urban culture to Helsinki, and the merchants were soon doing a livelier trade
                     than ever.

A Stage for Power:   Senate Square is an impressive setting where displays of authority have often
                                  been held. Hemmed in by monumental public buildings, the square represents
                                  the very essence of the hierarchical and patriarchal social order of its day, an
                                  impression reinforced  by the military parades held there. However, the powers
                                  that be have also been challenged in various demonstrations on Senate Square,
                                  with the common people or the working class demanding a more equal position
                                  in the social order.  Confrontations have even escalated to open riots at times.

Main Street:   Tsar Alexander 1 Declared Finland's capital city in 1812 but did not wish to have a
                       street named after him; the main thoroughfare leading into ther city was instead named
                       Unioninkatu to celebrate the union of Finland with the Russian Empire. TheTsar did,
                       however, lend his name to the University, the only one in Finland at the time, which
                       had been founded in Turku in 1640 and relocated to Helsinki after the Great Fire of
                       Turku, in 1828

Layers:   The Now Protected Neoclassical city centre of Helsinki is a grand narrative, the creation of                   a strong central government based on hierarchical authority and consensus. But the reality
                and history of the city are more complex than the perpetual status quo of early 19th century
                architecture would indicate.  Every time that buildings are repaired and renamed, history is                 reshaped to suit the purposes of the present.

High Society:  Esplandi park was and is the heart of Helsinki's young urban culture, the focus of the                           city's social life .Its promenades, theatres, terraces and restaurants have always been
                        places to see people and to be seen, to engage in  discourse and to partake of
                        entertainment and refreshment.  Distinguished hotels on the north side of Esplanadi
                        have accommodated equally distinguished guests over the decades

City Hall;    Hotel Seurahuone ('Society House') was the finest hotel in Helsinki when completed
                    in 1833. It had to be renovated several times in order for this status to be maintained                             amidst competition from later luxury hotels and rest In the boom years of the
                    1860s and 1870s, 'Socis' was the venue for signing forest industry deals; in the 1880s, it                       became a concert venue for the Helsinki Philharmonic Society; and in the 1890s,                                 Finland's first film screenings were given here.


Helsinki
Finland