Helsinki – the White Capital of the North
Sightseeing
The Senate Square – is the heart of Helsinki, one of the most important places in the city. Religion, science and politics meet here. The ensemble of the Senate Square is adorned with Helsinki’s symbol — the Lutheran Cathedral. If you look down from the main staircase of the Cathedral onto the square you will see the monument to Alexander II, erected at the end of the nineteenth century. On the left there is a building without columns — the Senate (1822), which is now the State Council, the symbol of state authority. On the right there is a symmetrically placed main building of the University and the building of University’s library (1832), which is splendid both outside and inside. One more component of the Senate ensemble is the home of merchant Sederholm (1757) where Helsinki City Museum is located. The Senate Square with the buildings surrounding it was built according to K. L. Engel’s designs. All the buildings were constructed between 1818 and 1852. The chief merit of the architect is his skill to create upon a site overridden with hills and rocks the ensemble as harmonious and complete as Russian masters did on flat Neva plains. “The White Capital of the North” — such was the name given to Helsinki in the XIX century. The Senate Square is one of the architectural ensembles of Europe which is clearly fulfilled in the traditions of Neo Classicism.
The mansion of Swedish merchant Sederholm – is the oldest stone building in the central part of the city. The house was built in 1775 to order of Johan Sederholm, the richest merchant in Helsinki. Now the house presents a historical exhibition of the merchants’ life style. In the museum’s collection visitors can see the life of Helsinki in 1700s, genuine artifacts of the eighteenth century. Temporary exhibits are also held here.
The railway station is the most well-known symbol of Helsinki. This building which is built with granite, being the main masterpiece of architect Eliel Saarinen, is the most world-wide known piece of Finnish architecture. It portrays the transfer from romantic national style to functionalism. The railway station was commissioned in 1919. Figures with lanterns in their hands on both sides of the main entrance were done by Emil Wikstrom.
The granite building of the National Theater of Finland was constructed in 1902 in the style of National Romanticism. The peak of this style in Finland as well as that of “Jugend” was at the end of the XIX and at the beginning of the XX centuries.