Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki is the capital of Finland. A lively city rich in history, Helsinki was founded in 1550 and became the capital of Finland in 1812. Founded by a Swedish king when Finland was still part of Sweden, Helsinki was a planned city and includes at least 315 islands, which is the reason for its nickname, "the city of the sea." It is also known for being one of the northernmost capitals in the world and has long, dark winter days and midnight sun during the summer.

Landscape

Helsinki is located in southern Finland and is surrounded by forest on the Vironiemi Headland, a peninsula on the southern tip of the Gulf of Finland, and there are many wooded areas within the city. As the capital has grown, it has fanned out to include many of the islands around the peninsula.

The original site of Helsinki, an area of the city now known as Kruununhaka, is near the center of the greater metropolitan area. The central Töölö district of the city is marked by functional, neoclassical architecture. Other city districts include Katajanokka, Eira, and Ellanlinna, which feature art nouveau architecture.

Perhaps the most unusual district is Arabianranta, a residential area. The district has existed on an inlet of the Baltic Sea since the sixteenth century. At that time, it was considered to be a long way from Helsinki, and the name it was given means "Shores of Araby." In 2000, the city implemented a rule requiring all developers to allot 1 to 2 percent of all building costs in Arabianranta to be invested in art commissions.

With the influx of people after World War II, Helsinki quickly built suburbs. The earlier developments, such as Nackinpuisto, Ruoholahti, and Pikku Huopalahti, are noted for their charm and are surrounded by parks. More recent suburbs, such as Myllypuro, Jakomaki, and Kontula, are better known for their cement-block construction.

The Gulf of Finland is the northeastern arm of the Baltic Sea and separates Finland from Estonia. Throughout Finland's history, the sea has been both beneficial and harmful. It has fostered trade, but it has also provided a path for invading armies. The sea around Helsinki, as well as the nature reserves and wooded areas, provide Finns and visitors alike with opportunities to experience unspoiled nature.

People

Helsinki's rapidly growing population reached more than 1.328 million residents by the end of 2022, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency. Finnish is the official and most often spoken language. Although Swedish is also an official language, only a small percentage of Finns speak it.

Helsinki is a secular city, and although there has been a renewed interest in religion in recent years, religious belief is considered a private matter. Most Finns are Lutheran, but there are also individuals who are Russian Orthodox Christians, Baptists, Adventists, Methodists, and Jewish. The national church of Finland, which is based in the Lutheran faith, has been a part of the country since the sixteenth century. Freedom of religion has been guaranteed since 1922. Religious teaching is provided in schools and is based on the religious belief of the majority of the students in each institution.

A major facet of Finnish social life is the sauna bath. Although no one knows for sure how the tradition of sauna baths started, the sauna has remained popular in Finland for thousands of years. After sitting in a hot sauna, many whip themselves with birch branches and then plunge into cold water, believing this promotes good health. Families share the sauna, while men and women are separated in public saunas.

Famous Helsinki residents include Jean Sibelius (1865–1975), composer of "Finlandia" (also known as "The Finnish Hymn"), novelist Mika Waltari (1908-1979), who wrote The Egyptian, and Aulus Sallinen, contemporary composer of operas.

Economy

Finland is highly industrialized and has a per capita output that is almost as high as that of Austria, Belgium, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The city of Helsinki is home to the telecommunications company Nokia and supports a stock exchange. The currency is the euro. Exports to other countries account for over one-third of Finland's gross national product, and the country is very competitive in the export of wood, metals, telecommunications, and electronics. Shipbuilding is an industry that has been pursued for centuries. Also, fresh fish are sold directly from fishing boats in the harbor. A world-famous Helsinki product is Fiskars scissors. Other industries include printing, sugar refining, textiles, and porcelain. The Arabia porcelain factory, founded in the late nineteenth century in Helsinki, was a leading ceramics maker until it was closed in 2016 and manufacturing of the company's products was relocated outside of Finland.

Nokia, which at one time held a 30 percent world market share, transformed the city's economy. Long one of the largest companies in Finland, Nokia, at its peak, accounted for over 20 percent of the country's GDP. However, the company began experiencing difficulties when it failed to transition to producing smartphones and, unable to compete with Apple and Android, sold its mobile phones business to Microsoft around 2013. Focusing instead on telecommunications network infrastructure, the company did make a return to mobile phones in 2016 when it granted a license to HMD Global to produce smartphones under the Nokia brand. While the reorganization and loss of jobs involved with the sale in 2013 shook up the technology sector in the country, initiatives promoting training and start-up companies helped to diversify and grow the information technology industry; additionally, as of 2024, Nokia remained a significant company.

Tourism, both domestic and international, is a growing sector of the city's economy. Vantaa is the main international airport. The airport is just north of Helsinki and was built in the early 1950s in preparation for the 1952 Summer Olympics. In 2022, the airport serviced more than 12.9 million passengers, with 87 percent being international passengers, according to Finavia. The airport is one of the largest Nordic airports and the busiest cargo airport in the Nordic countries.

Landmarks

The Esplanade, a nineteenth-century promenade, travels from the waterfront through a green park filled with cafés. To the west of the Esplanade is the Swedish Theatre. South of this are the Observatory and Kaivopuisto Gardens. Nearby Finlandia Hall was completed in 1971, a few years before the death of its famous designer, Alvar Aalto.

In the heart of the city is Senate Square and several old neoclassical structures, including the University of Technology and the old Senate House. Rising high above these buildings is the Lutheran Great Church of St. Nicholas, a huge white structure topped with a green dome, perhaps the most recognizable feature of the city. Uspensky Cathedral, founded in 1868, is the largest Russian Orthodox church in western Europe.

The Olympic Stadium, in the Töölö district was built in 1938, but World War II interrupted the games. Helsinki hosted the Olympic games in 1952. Next to this landmark is Töölö Stadium, which was built in 2000. The stadium seats more than 10,000 spectators. Töölö also boasts Temppeliaukio Church, which is carved into a rock. The church was designed by Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and built into a solid rock outcrop in 1969. The church is often used as a concert hall because of its excellent acoustics.

The Suomenlinna sea fortress, covering several of the city's islands, is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site. On another island of Helsinki is the Seurasaari Open Air Museum, which contains traditional buildings from all over the country, dating from as far back as the eighteenth century.

The city is also home to the National Theater, National Opera, National Museum, National Gallery, and the Ethnographic Museum.

History

Modern Helsinki was inhabited as early as the Neolithic Age, but permanent settlements did not develop until the Iron Age. The settlements, however, did not last long thanks to raids by both Finns and Vikings. Around 1100 CE, Christianized Swedish colonists migrated to the area. The Black Death devastated the area in the fourteenth century.

From the twelfth century, Finland was part of Sweden. In 1550, Helsinki was established by decree of Swedish King Gustav Vasa, who brought the Reformation to Sweden. With an eye to creating a rival of Tallinn (now the capital of Estonia), then a Hanseatic city on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland, the Swedish king forced businessmen to move to Helsinki, which the Swedish called Helsingfors.

However, the shallow bay made it impossible to create a good harbor. About a century after its founding, the city was moved two miles south to its present location. The king finally granted the merchants' petitions to return to their former homes in Porvoo, Rauma, Tammisaari, and Uvila. Some, however, remained in Helsinki.

Helsinki did not grow at first. By the eighteenth century, the city still numbered fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. When the Great Northern War between Sweden and Russia ended, Sweden had lost its position as a great power, and the departing Swedes burned Helsinki to the ground as a part of a scorched-earth policy.

In the 1809 Treaty of Hamina, Sweden ceded Finland to Russia as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. Czar Alexander I commissioned German architect Carl Ludvig Engel to rebuild Helsinki, and the czar moved the administrative capital from Turku to the newly designed city. Helsinki's population quickly grew to 16,000.

By 1900, Helsinki was Finland's most important industrial center, with a population of 91,000 and growing. Finland declared its independence from Russia in 1917, and a civil war erupted within the new nation. The government was forced to evacuate the city for a few months, but ultimately won the war. World War II brought a flood of eastern refugees into Helsinki.

The city continues to grow and remains the country's leading industrial center. Typically recognized as neutral territory, Helsinki made headlines in 2018 when it served as the host city for the controversial summit meeting between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin. In December 2023, Finland became a member of NATO. The country also signed a pact with the United States, allowing it to send troops to Finland and store weapons there.

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