Historical outline: Helsinki
Helsinki was the sixth city in Finland, founded in
1550 by the Swedish king Gustav Vasa. Its name in
Swedish is Helsingfors.
Gustav Vasa wanted to establish a competitor to the
Hansa Union’s thriving trading center, Tallinn, on
the other side of the Gulf of Finland. By royal
decree, trading was begun in the city.
However, for centuries after the decree, Helsingfors
remained a withdrawn city whose trade could not
compete with Tallinn.
When in 1703 its eastern neighbor, Russia, under
Peter the Great, laid out his new and extravagant
capital, St. Petersburg, the Swedes began fortifying
Helsingfors. It was in the 1700’s, first in 1713-1721
and latest in 1742, that the Russians invaded the city.Because of Napoleon, Sweden went to war with
Russia in 1808. That same year, the great fortress
Sveaborg (now called Suomenlinna), built in 1748-
1772 at the mouth of the waterway to the city, was
conquered by the tsar’s army.
In 1809 Russia gained control over Finland. The tsar
in St. Petersburg wanted a Finnish capital that was
closer than Åbo/Turku. Helsingfors was chosen
because of the Sveaborg fortress. It became the
official capital of the Finns; and became the czar’s
city in 1812 – re-named Helsinki.
In 1808 a fire destroyed a larger part of the city.
Helsinki had to be rebuilt; and as it was the new
capital, it was possible to design a magnificent center,
worthy of this status.
The German architect, Carl Ludwig Engel, together
with the local architect Johan Albrecht Ehrenström
had the primary responsibility for this grand project.
They planned and designed the center of the capital
in monumental Empire style. One of the highlights
was the cathedral, which was completed in 1852. In
connection with the reconstruction of Helsinki, two
institutions were moved from the old to the new
capital. In 1812 the Finnish university – founded in
1840 – was moved from Åbo/Turku to Helsinki.
Helsinki became the garrison city for the imperial
Russian army.
The 19th and 20th centuries saw great growth in
Helsinki. Railway connections were built to
Hämeenlinna in 1862 and to St. Petersburg in 1870.
These and other transportation facilities were
decisive in strengthening the city’s role as an
economic and industrial power center.
As the economy thrived, so did culture and at the
head of the renaissance of Finnish art was the world
famous composer Jean Sibelius.
It was also at this time that the first Finnish opera
was born, in 1852.
Growth created a good economic situation for the
city, which can be seen in the beautiful national
romantic buildings and art nouveau neighborhoods.
Around the start of the 20th century, the
population of the city was 100,000.
The communist October Revolution in Russia in
1917 made it possible for Finland to declare its
independence. After a brief period of civil war,
where Finland’s government was forced to flee
Helsinki, the city became the capital of an
independent Finland in 1918, thanks to the victory
of governmental forces led by General Mannerheim.
Helsinki continued to grow in the 1920’s-’30’s. The
period is characterized by the numerous buildings
in the classical and functional styles and crowned by
the monumental constructions for the OlympicGames in 1940. The games, however, were
postponed because of the Second World War.
During the Second World War, Helsinki was under
bombardment; but its growth quickly resumed after
the war’s end.
In 1952 the city was host to the Summer Olympics;
and since then, Helsinki has been a great
international congress and conference city.Through the 1960’s-80’s, many suburbs have grown
up around Helsinki in tact with movement of the
population from rural districts to the city. It was in
this period that Alvar Aalto was very productive.
Helsinki is still one of the most rapidly growing
capitals in Europe, with a very active cultural life
