What a fun short visit to Helsinki. Since we were in Tallinn, we figured we ought to make the trip, but I must admit that I wasn’t so excited about the Finnish capital. The ferries wanted too much extra money for the bicycles so we decided to leave them in Tallinn. That was fine. It’s easy to get around central Helsinki on foot. Also we used the tram twice and took a ferry to visit Suomenlinna.
Finland’s history seems similar to Estonia’s. The Swedes were ruling until they lost the Northern War to Russia (Peter the Great), and then Finland became part of the Russian Empire. Finland became independent in 1918, but unlike Estonia did not become part of the Soviet Union. Suomenlinna (UNESCO-listed) is a fortress built on four islands by the Swedes. It protected a city larger than Helsinki (at the time) but wasn’t strong enough to keep the Russians from taking it. It’s a pleasant area to walk around.
Helsinki’s highlight, however, was not the World Heritage Site. For us the highlight was simply walking around the urban area and being continuously surprised by the varied architecture. We never knew what we’d see around the next corner.
We visited four churches all very different from each other. The Russian Orthodox Church is closed on Mondays so we only saw it from the outside.
The Lutheran Rock Church was blasted out of the rock and constructed using stone, concrete, copper, and wood. There’s not much to see from the outside, but the interior is stunning space. The ceiling is made up of 20km of copper wire.
It’s easy to dismiss the Helsinki Cathedral on Senate Square with its neoclassical Greek columns, but check out the beautiful organ.
The most unusual church was the non-denominational Chapel of Silence where visitors are requests to not make any noise. Here’s Ferda walking toward the odd-shaped wooden building.
The entrance area was hosting an exhibit of photographs by Gertrude Bell and the Finnish photographer Meeri Koutaniemi. Many people are familiar with the photographs that Gertrude Bell took while traveling solo in the Middle East at the end of 19th century/beginning of the 20th century. Koutaniemi decided to do the same thing — solo female travel to the places Bell visited — and take photos. Here’s an example of Koutaniemi’s work:
I enjoyed the exhibit. By the way, the idea to follow Miss Bell is not a unique one. See Pat Yale’s 2023 book Following Miss Bell.
Can the Sibelius Monument dedicated to the author of Finland’s national anthem be compared to a piece of Hungarian aragonite?
Saving the best for last, I think — we visited three of Helsinki’s libraries. Oodi has a prominent position opposite the Finnish Parliament Building. I like the symbolism.
Inside — in addition to books and space for hanging out — we saw 3d printers, a UV printer, sewing machines, large format printers, a kitchen, quiet study rooms, internet access, many computers (with what software? I wonder). Incredible.
We happened to walk through the Helsinki University Library to connect two streets. What a beautiful (and functional) space.
We certainly weren’t the only tourists gawking in the National Library of Finland.
It’s wonderful to think that Finns have good healthy options to spend their long dark winters.
We had a cabin for our overnight ferry back to Tallinn.
