Helsingin luonnontieteellinen museo | |
Established | 1924 |
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Location | Helsinki |
Type | Natural history museum |
Website | www |
The Natural History Museum (Finnish : Luonnontieteellinen museo, Swedish : Naturhistoriska museet) is one of the museums under the directorship of the Finnish Museum of Natural History, part of the University of Helsinki, in Helsinki, Finland.
The building that houses the museum, located on Arkadiankatu and Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu in central Helsinki, was built in 1913. It was originally built for the Alexander Lyceum, a Russian-speaking cadet school, where the pupils were distinguished by their military-type uniforms. [1] The building was designed by two Russian architects, Lev P. Chichko and M.G. Chayko, and the architecture is unusually flamboyant, especially the main stairs. After Finnish independence in 1918 the building became a Finnish cadet school. When the school vacated the building in 1923 it was obtained by the University of Helsinki and converted for use as a zoological museum. Its first collections were based on donations to the University of Helsinki from a private society called Societas pro Fauna et Flora.
The museum building has been infested with a population of Loxosceles laeta (Chilean recluse spider) since the early 1960s. [2] Though the species is considered by many to be the most dangerous of the venomous recluse spiders, there has been only one minor, non-fatal biting incident at the museum thus far. While ecologist Veikko Huhta theorized that the Chilean recluse first arrived in fruit shipments from Argentina, museum senior curator Jyrki Muona offers the alternative explanation that the spider arrived in wood chips used for a live rodent enclosure.
The museum displays taxidermed animals, skeletons, remains of prehistoric animals, and minerals. The first floor houses a bone exhibition. In the upper floors are exhibitions of Finnish nature, the nature of the world, and the history of life. The moose statue in front of the museum has become the symbol of the museum. The lobby hall is dominated by a taxidermed African elephant. The museum also has a cafe and a souvenir shop. The total floor area of the museum is around 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft).
Helsinki is the capital, primate, 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 658,864. 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; while Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region, located 179 kilometres (111 mi) to the north from Helsinki, is the second largest urban area in Finland. 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.
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The University of Helsinki is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available. In 2020, around 31,600 students were enrolled in the degree programs of the university spread across 11 faculties and 11 research institutes.
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The Senate Square presents Carl Ludvig Engel's architecture as a unique allegory of political, religious, scientific and commercial powers in the centre of Helsinki, Finland.
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Helsinki Central Station (HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 people per day, of whom about 200,000 are passengers. It serves as the terminus for all trains in the Helsinki commuter rail network, as well as for all Helsinki-bound long-distance trains in Finland. The Rautatientori metro station is located in the same building. All trains from Finland to Saint Petersburg and Moscow in Russia also depart from Helsinki Central Station.
Normal Lyceum of Helsinki is a school in Helsinki, Finland, consisting of the upper part of primary school and secondary school (lukio).
The Chilean recluse spider, Loxosceles laeta, is a highly venomous spider of the family Sicariidae. In Spanish, it is known as araña de rincón, or "corner spider"; in Brazilian Portuguese, as aranha-marrom or "brown spider". It is considered by many to be the most dangerous of recluse spiders, and its bites often result in serious systemic reactions, up to and including death.
Vartiovuori Observatory is a former observatory in Turku, Finland. The observatory, designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, was originally built for the Royal Academy of Turku. The neoclassical building was completed in 1819. The observatory is situated atop the Vartiovuori hill, and it is clearly visible from different sides of the city centre.
The Finnish Museum of Natural History, established in 1988, is a research institution under the University of Helsinki in Finland, based in Helsinki, Finland. It is a natural history museum responsible for the national botanical, zoological, geological and paleontological collections, which consist of samples from around the world. The collections serve scientific, public informational and educational purposes.
Rainer Mahlamäki is a Finnish architect, president of the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA) from 2007 to 2011, Professor of Contemporary Architecture at the University of Oulu, and joint partner with Ilmari Lahdelma of the Helsinki-based architecture firm Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects, one of the most prolific such firms in Finland. A significant part of their work started as entries in architectural competitions, in which they have received 35 first prizes.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Helsinki, Finland.
Finnish art started to form its individual characteristics in the 19th century, when romantic nationalism began to rise in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.
Märta Blomstedt (1899–1982) was an architect and one of the driving forces of the Finnish functionalism movement. Partnering with her husband, Pauli E. Blomstedt, her first works were noted for their functional, rather than decorative appearance and settings in park-like environments. After her husband's death, initially she formed a firm with Matti Lampén to complete projects her husband and she had begun. Later, she and Lampén formed a firm designing their own creations. She designed all aspects of her buildings including the furnishings, demonstrated in one of Blomstedt & Lampén's most noted designs of the Hotel Aulanko. During the war, Blomstedt & Lampén mostly worked on renovation and restoration projects of existing buildings, but at the war's end, they returned to their own designs. In addition to buildings, they were responsible for the city plans for Kuusjärvi and the Oravikoski Mining Community and created both public and private buildings in each city as well. When Lampén died, Blomstedt formed a partnership with Olli Penttilä and continued to work into the 1970s.
Hotel Marski is a hotel opened 1962 on Mannerheimintie 10 in Helsinki, Finland.