Helsinki is the capital and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of 650,058. The city's urban area has a population of 1,268,296, making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland as well as the country's most important center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 km (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has close historical ties with these three cities.
Espoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. It is part of the Finnish Capital Region, along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen, and most of its population lives in the inner urban core of the Helsinki metropolitan area. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. Other bordering municipalities of Espoo are Nurmijärvi and Vihti in the north, and Kirkkonummi in the west. The city is located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, in the region of Uusimaa, and has a population of 284,444.
Tapiola is a district of the municipality of Espoo on the south coast of Finland, and is one of the major urban centres of Espoo. It is located in the western part of Greater Helsinki. The name Tapiola is derived from Tapio, who is the forest god of Finnish mythology, especially as expressed in the Kalevala.
Kiasma is a contemporary art museum located on Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, Finland. Its name kiasma, Finnish for chiasma, alludes to the basic conceptual idea of its architect, Steven Holl. Kiasma is part of the Finnish National Gallery, and it is responsible for the gallery's contemporary art collection. Its central goal is to showcase contemporary art and to strengthen its status.
Einojuhani Rautavaara was a Finnish composer of classical music. He is among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957).
Eija-Liisa Ahtila is a contemporary visual artist and filmmaker. She lives and works in Helsinki.
Maria Antonina Czaplicka, also referred to as Marya Antonina Czaplicka and Marie Antoinette Czaplicka, was a Polish cultural anthropologist who is best known for her ethnography of Siberian shamanism. Czaplicka's research survives in three major works: her studies in Aboriginal Siberia (1914); a travelogue published as My Siberian Year (1916); and a set of lectures published as The Turks of Central Asia (1919). Curzon Press republished all three volumes, plus a fourth volume of articles and letters, in 1999.
Rauni-Leena Tellervo Luukanen-Kilde née Valve was a Finnish physician who wrote and lectured on parapsychology, ufology and mind control.
Katja Maarit Tukiainen is a Finnish visual artist and painter. She was the regional artist of Uusimaa from 1999 to 2001 and the 2003 winner of the Finnish Comic Society's annual Puupää Award. She received the Finnish State Prize for Design in 2007, and the William Thuring Prize of the Finnish Art Society in 2011.
Graciela Iturbide is a Mexican photographer. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is included in many major museum collections such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Getty.
Susanna Majuri is a Finnish fine art photographer based in Helsinki. She is best known for her underwater images.
Lorna Marshall was an anthropologist who in the 1950s, 60s and 70s lived among and wrote about the previously unstudied !Kung people of the Kalahari Desert.
Martti (Martin) Rautanen was the pioneer of the Finnish Mission in Ovamboland, Namibia.
Karl Emil Liljeblad was a Finnish pastor, vicar, missionary and educator, and during his final years, a researcher in Folkloristics.
Pekka T. Lehtinen is a Finnish arachnologist and taxonomist. He is known for his works in systematics and for the many expeditions he has participated in.
Helsinki City Bikes is a public bicycle system in Helsinki and Espoo and integrating with the rest of the public transport in Helsinki since May 2016. It is operated as a public-private partnership between Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL), Helsinki City Transport (HKL), Espoo Technical and Environment Services, Moventia and Smoove.
Esa Erkki Piironen is a Finnish architect. He studied architecture at Helsinki University of Technology, qualifying as an architect in 1970. He studied architecture and urban design in North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was awarded the Master of Architecture in 1972. He was working as a teaching assistant at Helsinki University of Technology 1972–81, and was awarded Licentiate in Technology in 1978. Visiting professor at Guangdong University of Technology School of Art and Design starting from 2012.
Salme Setälä was a Finnish architect and writer. She graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1917. She worked in a number of architecture offices. In the early 1950s she made several study trips in Europe. After that she was hired in the government office for land-use planning. She planned the land use for over 30 areas in Finland.
Katja Aili Maria Toivola is a Finnish ex-patriate musician living in New Orleans. Her instrument is the trombone. She is the first female wind instrument player to play regularly in New Orleans's Preservation Hall. She also plays the bass drum, and she also works as a graphic designer and photographer.
Maria Mikaela Markuntytär Ylipää is a Finnish singer and actress, who has become especially known for her role in the musical Kristina från Duvemåla and acted in the films Keisarikunta (2004) and Pietà (2007). She has also appeared in the television series Rikospoliisi Maria Kallio (2003), Tappajan näköinen mies (2011) and Luottomies (2016) as well as musical theatres Helsinki City Theatre, Tampere Workers' Theatre, Swedish Theatre, Gothenburg opera house and the Stockholm Cirkus.
