The Market Square from the sea. The Market Square in August 2025. The Market Square from the Suomenlinna Ferry.
From spring to autumn, the Market Square is active with vendors selling fresh Finnish food and souvenirs. There are also many outdoor cafés at the square. Some cafés also provide meat pastries (Finnish: lihapiirakka).
The Herring Market (Silakkamarkkinat) is Helsinki’s oldest marketplace, older than the Market Square. The Herring Market, originally a fish and autumn fair, has been held since 1743. In 2024, 65 000 visitors participated in the Herring Market.[3][4]
Until the early 19th century, market trade took place at the Town Hall Square, which was located near today’s Senate Square. The present Market Square was reserved for merchants’ warehouses and waterfront storage sheds.[4]
The Market Square's west side.
A long tradition at the Market Square is a display of old American cars on the first Friday of every month. Any motorist with an interest in old American cars may participate in the display.[5] In 2025, Classic Car Parade was arranged at the Market Square. The parade showcased a vast number of American cars.[6]
Seagulls have become an increasing menace in the Market Square, swooping down to snatch snacks and ice cream from the hands of unsuspecting tourists.[7][8]
History
Swedish Era 1550-1809
King Gustav Vasa of Sweden founded Helsinki in 1550, as he envisioned the city as a rival trading town to Tallinn, which at the time belonged to the Hanseatic League. The original location of Helsinki was by the Vantaanjoki.[9]
In 1640, the Governor-General of Finland, Count Per Brahe, relocated the town of Helsinki to its present site on the Vironniemi peninsula, where the districts of Kluuvi and Kruununhaka are located today. The move was made because large ships could access the new center more easily than the old one.[9]
After the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743, construction of the Suomenlinna fortress was launched. This was a joint project between Sweden and France, who were allies. Water traffic increased between the present-day Market Square area and Suomenlinna.[9]
Helsinki’s Market Square at that time was located in the area of today’s Senate Square. The Sederholm House, built by merchant Johan Sederholm, stood at the edge of the original marketplace.[9]
The city developed rapidly. Large ships anchored at Katajanokka and Pohjoissatama, while smaller vessels docked at the site of today’s Market Square, which was at that time still partly underwater. Buildings stood right at the shoreline.[9]
Up to the early 19th century, the site of the Market Square was the muddy bottom of the Kaupunginlahti bay with fishing piers. The bay was used as a marketplace by local fishermen who attached their boats to the piers and sold fish to the people in Helsinki. Around the site of the current street Pohjoisesplanadi was the street Eteläinen Rantakatu, beyond which lay the city proper. The market square at the time was the Suurtori square (Finnish for "Great Square"), located around the site of the current Senate Square.[9]
Grand Duchy of Finland (1809-1917)
The Market Square was born in the early 19th century when the centre of Helsinki was rebuilt to serve as the new capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland. The zoning plan of Johan Albrecht Ehrenström in 1812 made the old Suurtori square into the new monumental Senate Square and placed a new market square on the site of the former fishing piers.[10]
Ehrenström drew inspiration for the design of the Market Square from the city of Saint Petersburg. Along Pohjoisesplanadi, a row of urban palaces emerged, as well as stone embankments along the shoreline of the Market Square. The silhouette of central Helsinki thus became a miniature version of Saint Petersburg.[10]
The current City Hall originally housed the Seurahuone Hotel, which was the most splendid hotel in Helsinki of its time. Domestic and foreign guests arrived at the hotel on ships that anchored along the edge of the Market Square.[10]
The city palace of shipowner Johan Henrik Heidenstrauch was completed in 1843 at Pohjoisesplanadi 7. Today, the building houses the Embassy of Sweden in Helsinki.[10]
Finland's oldest and best-known Stockmann department store started operating at the address Pohjoisesplanadi 5 under the leadership of merchant Heinrich Georg Franz Stockmann in 1862.[11]
Emperor Nicholas II visited the Market Square during the First World War in 1915. Nicholas II inspected the fleet stationed at Suomenlinna. He also visited the Imperial Palace, which had been converted into a temporary hospital for the Senate of Finland. The hospital was under the patronage of his wife, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna.[14]
Republic of Finland
The King of Sweden, Gustaf V, and Queen Victoria, made the first official state visit to Finland in 1925. Gustaf V arrived at the Market Square waterfront by ship, where he was received with fanfares. Gustaf V met the President of Finland, Lauri Kristian Relander, at the Presidential Palace.[15]
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip visited Finland in 1976 and 1994. On both occasions, the royal couple arrived in Helsinki aboard Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia, which anchored at the edge of the Market Square. In 1976 the royal couple met President Urho Kekkonen, and in 1994 President Martti Ahtisaari. In 1994, a couple of thousand citizens gathered at the square to watch the arrival of the royal couple.[16][17]
Helsinki's Market Square primarily represents early 19th-century architecture, which is part of the Empire style of Helsinki. The Market Square and its surroundings are based on the city plan created by Johan Albrecht Ehrenström in 1812, and they are lined with significant stone merchant houses, many of which have classical and Empire-style influences. Buildings in the area, including the Presidential Palace (originally the Imperial Palace), Helsinki City Hall (formerly the Hotel Seurahuone), and the Supreme Court building (private residence of Hugo Robert Standertskjöld), exemplify this style. The Market Square is a key part of Helsinki's maritime facade and is known for its historical harbor basins and piers, which have preserved their original appearance from the 19th century. Hence, the Market Square is an essential part of Helsinki's Empire and Classical architectural heritage from the early 1800s.[20]
The design competition for the Industrial Center – the headquarters of the Confederation of Finnish Employers along with an associated Palace Hotel and restaurant – was won in 1949 by architects Viljo Revell and Keijo Petäjä. The building was completed for the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. In positioning the building on the lot, careful consideration was given to the site’s slope toward the harbor. The planning emphasized simplicity and clarity, incorporating Revell’s ideas of rationality. Upon completion, the building was a total work of art, including interiors designed by Antti Nurmesniemi, Olli Borg, and Olavi Hänninen.[20]
Construction in the 1800s
Filling the muddy and shallow bay bottom required a great deal of filling land to build a wide market square suitable for ship traffic. Three harbour basins were built at the square: one at the eastern end for traffic to Sveaborg (now known as the Linnanallas basin), one at the western end for fishing boats (now known as the Cholera Basin) and one to the south of it for steamships (now known as the Vironallas basin). The canal separating Katajanokka from the mainland was also dug during the construction. In the early 1830s the market square was paved with cobblestones.[21]:88
In the 1890s the Helsinki harbour rail leading to Katajanokka was built along the shore of the market square; because of this the square was expanded seaward and two turning bridges were built at either end of it to allow trains to pass over the mouth of the Cholera Basin and the Katajanokka canal.[13] Train traffic to Katajanokka ended in the 1980s and the tracks were dismantled. About twenty metres of track still remains on the cobblestones at the square,[22] and a disused old bridge turner's cabin remains near the Cholera Basin.[23]
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