Helsinki is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and serves as the seat of the Uusimaa region in southern Finland. Approximately 675,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.25 million in the capital region, and 1.58 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is situated 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the north of Tallinn, Estonia, 360 kilometres (220 mi) to the north of Riga, Latvia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) to the east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) to the west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki has significant historical connections with these four cities.
Mikael Agricola was a Finnish Lutheran clergyman who became the de facto founder of literary Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden, including Finland, which was a Swedish territory at the time. He is often called the "father of literary Finnish".
Töölö is the collective name for the neighbourhoods Etu-Töölö and Taka-Töölö in Helsinki, Finland. The neighbourhoods are located next to the city centre, occupying the western side of the Helsinki Peninsula.
Helsinki Cathedral is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka in the centre of Helsinki, Finland, at the Senate Square. The church was originally built from 1830 to 1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. It was also known as St Nicholas's Church until Finland declared its full independence in 1917. It is a major landmark of the city, and one of the most famous historical structures in Finland as a whole when viewed globally.
Ainola is a museum in Järvenpää, Finland, which was the home of a Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, his wife Aino, and their six daughters. Situated near Lake Tuusula, 38 kilometres north of Helsinki, the two-story wooden home was designed by a Finnish architect Lars Sonck. The foundation was laid in the autumn of 1903, and the Sibelius family began occupying the residence in September 1904. The second floor of Ainola was later finished in 1911.
Lars Eliel Sonck was a Finnish architect. He graduated from Helsinki Polytechnic Institute in 1894 and immediately won a major design competition for a church in Turku, St Michael's Church, ahead of many established architects. The church was designed in the prevailing neo-Gothic style. However, Sonck's style would soon go through a dramatic change, in the direction of Art Nouveau and National Romanticism that was moving through Europe at the end of the 19th century. During the 1920s, Sonck would also design a number of buildings in the emerging Nordic Classicism style.
Kulosaari is an island and an East Helsinki suburb in Helsinki, Finland. It is also the 42nd neighbourhood of the city. Construction of villas on the island started in the beginning of the 20th century, and a bridge from Sörnäinen was opened in 1919. Kulosaari was an independent municipality since 1922 until 1946, when it was merged to Helsinki.
The architecture of Finland has a history spanning over 800 years, and while up until the modern era the architecture was highly influenced by Sweden, there were also influences from Germany and Russia. From the early 19th century onwards influences came directly from further afield: first when itinerant foreign architects took up positions in the country and then when the Finnish architect profession became established.
Tampere Cathedral is a Lutheran church in Tampere, Finland, and the seat of the Diocese of Tampere. The building was designed in the National Romantic style by Lars Sonck, and built between 1902 and 1907.
Tehtaankatu is an east-to-west street in southern central Helsinki. It leads from the border of Kaivopuisto park near South Harbour to Hietalahti shipyard. Most of the street is in Ullanlinna district, but its westernmost part forms the border between Eira and Punavuori districts.
Eira Hospital is a private hospital in southern part of Helsinki, Finland. It has given its name to the adjacent Eira district of Helsinki.
Viipuri Cathedral, also known as Viborg Cathedral or Vyborg Cathedral, was a Lutheran church in Viipuri, present-day Russia; during its lifetime part of the Grand Duchy of Finland and later independent Finland. It was built in 1893. At first it was called the New Church and after 1908, when the Mikael Agricola statue was erected in front of the church, the Agricola Church. From 1925 to 1940 it was the cathedral of the Diocese of Viipuri. It was also called the New Cathedral in order to separate it from the medieval Old Viipuri Cathedral.
Kallio Church is a Lutheran church in the Kallio district of Helsinki, Finland. It was designed by Lars Sonck and represents National Romanticism with Art Nouveau influences. The National Romantic style appears in the use of traditional Finnish materials and in the church's massive, gray granite body, as well as in nature-inspired colours and decorative motifs.
The Pohjola Insurance building is the former headquarters of the Pohjola Insurance Company at Aleksanterinkatu 44 and Mikonkatu 3 in central Helsinki. Primarily designed by Gesellius, Lindgren & Saarinen and constructed in 1899–1901, it is a prominent example of Finnish national romantic architecture. It was acquired in 1972 by Kansallis-Osake-Pankki, now succeeded by Nordea.
The Polytechnic Students' Union or Sampo Building is a National Romantic building at Lönnrotinkatu 29 in central Helsinki, designed in 1903 by Karl Lindahl and Walter Thomé. It has since become a hotel and is often called the Vanha Poli.
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.
Pyynikinrinne is a district of Tampere, Finland. It is located west of the city center. Pyynikinrinne is bordered on the south by the Pyynikki Esker nature reserve, on the north by Pirkankatu and on the east by Mariankatu. The western boundary of the district is the former border between Tampere and Pohjois-Pirkkala municipalities. The neighboring parts of the city are Pyynikki, Ylä-Pispala, Amuri, partly Särkänniemi and Kaakinmaa.
Tähtitorninvuori or Tähtitorninmäki is a rocky hill about 30 meters high in Ullanlinna, Helsinki, next to the South Harbor. The hill is mostly a park, but there are also a few public buildings.
Clarion Hotel Helsinki is a hotel in the Jätkäsaari district of Helsinki, Finland, opened on 17 October 2016. The building has 16 floors, is 78 metres (256 ft) tall and has 425 hotel rooms as well as 15 convention and event rooms. The top floor contains a health club, a sauna and a rooftop pool. The building was commissioned by the Norwegian building millionaire Arthur Burchardt. The hotel is managed by the Nordic hotel chain Strawberry and is the chain's first hotel in Finland. Strawberry is a franchising partner of the international Choice Hotels chain, owned by the Norwegian "hotel magnate" and environmental activist Petter Stordalen.
View towards the altar
View towards the organ
View of the church in the 1960s
