Helsinki

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Helsingin kaupunki – Helsingfors stad City of Helsinki
Coat of Arms Location
Founded	1550
Country	Finland
Province	Southern Finland
Region	Uusimaa
Sub-region	Helsinki
Area[1] - Of which land - Rank	185.32 km² 184.47 km² ranked 342nd
Population - Density - Change (year) - Rank	564,908 (Jan 31 2007)[2] 3,062.3 inh./km² + 0.63% (from 2006) ranked 1st
Official languages	Finnish, Swedish
Urbanisation	99.9%
Unemployment	8.9%
City Manager	Jussi Pajunen
Home page	http://www.hel.fi/

Helsinki (in Finnish; listen (help·info)), Helsingfors (in Swedish; listen (help·info)) is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, at 60°10′N, 24°56′E by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 564,908 (31 January 2007).^[2] Helsinki, along with the neighbouring cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, constitutes what is known as the capital region, with 998,535^[2] inhabitants. The Greater Helsinki area contains several additional municipalities and has a population of 1,293,093,^[2] meaning that one out of every four Finns lives there.

[edit] Introduction

Helsinki is the international gateway of Finland. The city has Finland's largest immigrant population in both absolute and relative terms. There are people from over 130 nationalities resident in Helsinki. The largest groups are from Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Somalia, Serbia, China, Iraq and Germany.

In addition to being the political capital of Finland, it is also the country's business, media and culture capital. There is a large and varied collection of museums, galleries and performance spaces. The biggest subscription newspaper in the Nordic countries, Helsingin Sanomat, is published daily out of Helsinki.

[edit] Names and etymology

A view of the Market Square. The tan building on the right houses the Supreme Court of Finland, the brown building in the middle is the Swedish Embassy and the large pale blue building is the Helsinki City Hall. The Helsinki Cathedral and the Kallio church tower are visible in the background.

Helsingfors is the original name of the city of Helsinki, and is still the official Swedish name for the city. The Finnish name, Helsinki (pronounced with the stress on the first syllable: ['helsiŋki]), has been dominant in other languages for decades. The Swedish name Helsingfors comes from the name of the surrounding parish, Helsinge (source for Finnish Helsinki) and the rapids (in Swedish: fors), which flowed through the original town. Folklore holds that the name Helsinge was given by Swedish immigrants from the Swedish province of Hälsingland. The city is also called Stadi (from the Swedish word stad, meaning city) in the local slang, and Hesa by people who don't live in Helsinki. Some subcultures, especially fans of heavy metal music, have recently started to spell the city name "Hell-sinki". Helsset is the North Sami name of Helsinki.

[edit] History

Main article: History of Helsinki

Founded in 1550 as a rival to the Hanseatic city of Reval (today: Tallinn) by King Gustav I of Sweden, the town of Helsingfors struggled in its infancy. The fledging settlement was plagued by poverty, wars, and diseases. For a long time it remained as a small low-key coastal town, overshadowed by the more thriving trade centers in the Baltic region. The construction of the Sveaborg (today also: Suomenlinna) naval fortress helped improve its status, but it was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 that Helsinki began to truly change.

Central Helsinki in 1820 before rebuilding. Drawing by Carl Ludvig Engel.

To help reduce Swedish influence in Finland, Czar Alexander I of Russia moved the capital from Turku, which had close ties to Sweden, to Helsinki. The Royal Academy of Turku, back then the only university in the country, was relocated to Helsinki in 1827 and eventually became the modern University of Helsinki. The move consolidated the city's new role and the following decades saw unprecedented growth and development for the city, creating the prerequisites for the birth of the modern world class capital in the 20th century. This transformation is highly apparent in the downtown core, which was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble St. Petersburg. As elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were a key factor behind the growth.

In the 1918 Finnish Civil War, most of Helsinki fell to the Red Guard along with the rest of southern Finland after brief fighting in January. The Senate was relocated to Vaasa, although some senators and officials remained in hiding in the capital. After the tide of war turned against the Red forces, German troops fighting on the same side with the Finnish White Guard recaptured Helsinki in April. Unlike Tampere, Helsinki suffered relatively little damage in the war. After the White victory many former Red soldiers and collaborators were confined in prison camps across the country. The largest, having approximately 13,300 prisoners, was located on the former naval fortress island of Suomenlinna in Helsinki. Although the civil war left a considerable scar on the society, the standard of living in the country and the city began to improve in the following decade. Renowned architects such as Eliel Saarinen created utopistic plans for Helsinki, but they were never realized to full extent.

In the aerial bombings of the Winter War (1939-40) and the Continuation War (1941-44) Helsinki was attacked by Soviet bombers. The most intense air raids took place in the spring of 1944, when over two thousand Soviet planes dropped some 16,000 bombs in and around the city. However, due to successful air defense the city was spared from the large-scale destruction that many other cities in Europe under similar scale bombings had suffered. Only a few bombs hit populated areas.

Despite the tumultous first half of the 20th century, Helsinki continued to develop steadily. The rapid urbanization of the 1970s, which occurred relatively late in the European context, tripled the population in the metropolitan area, making the Helsinki metropolitan area one of the fastest growing urban centers in the European Union in the 1990s. The relatively sparse population density of Helsinki and its peculiar structure have often been attributed to the lateness of the urbanisation. Today Helsinki is the second most sparsely populated European capital after Brussels.^[3]

[edit] Economy

Pohjoisranta (The Northern Shore) at Night. On the left, Uspenski Cathedral. The twin towers of St. John's Church and the dome of the Helsinki Cathedral are also visible.

The Helsinki metropolitan area generates approximately one third of the Finnish GDP. GDP per capita is roughly 1.5 times the national average, making Helsinki one of wealthiest capitals in Europe. In 2004, the local economy grew by 3.2%.

Since the 1950s, the economy has become largely service-based, although industries such as shipbuilding continue to employ a substantial number of people. Large service-based employers include the public sector and the information technology sector.

The metropolitan area is the location of choice for the headquarters of large Finnish companies as well as the regional headquarters of international companies. This is primarily due to good transport infrastructure, both international and national as well as the availability of skilled labour.

[edit] Society

Helsinki is also known for being unique in the way that for a city its size there is no part of the town that could be deemed as "slum", or explicitly inhabited by the poor. However, there is a growing social inequality in the city and experts have recently warned about the dangers of increasing social problems. Successful integration of foreign immigrants into the society, infrastructure development, production of public services and insufficient cooperation between the municipalities of Helsinki conurbation area are seen as major future challenges for the economic development of the region.

Rapidly growing in Finland is the trend (especially of the younger generation) to work for 'placement agencies'. Although there has been a massive surge of public companies going private in the last ten years, this trend seems to be fueled by the increased demand for more flexible work schedules as well as the freedom to work seasonally or sporadically. Due to the nature of these types of agencies as well as the types of work they provide, it is common for them to hire non-Finns. Some agencies include Adecco, Staff Point [1], Manpower and Biisoni [2].

[edit] Services

[edit] Education

Helsinki has 190 comprehensive schools, 41 upper secondary schools and 15 vocational institutes. Half of the 41 upper secondary schools are private or state-owned, the other half municipal. Higher level education is given in eight universities (see the section "Universities" below) and four polytechnics.

[edit] Institutions of higher education

Main building of the University of Helsinki.

[edit] Universities

Main article: Universities in Finland

• University of Helsinki
• Helsinki University of Technology (located in neighbouring Espoo)
• Helsinki School of Economics
• Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration
• Academy of Fine Arts
• Sibelius Academy
• Theatre Academy
• University of Art and Design Helsinki
• National Defence College (Finland)

[edit] Polytechnics

• Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia
• Helsinki Polytechnic Arcada
• Helsinki Business Polytechnic (Helia)

[edit] Public transport

Main article: Public transport in Helsinki

A Helsinki metro train crossing the Vuosaari metro bridge.

Public transportation is generally a hotly debated subject in the local politics of Helsinki. The sparse population of the city has made it one of the most car-dependent major cities in Europe, which is something the growing city might see as a major problem and constraint in the future. Further development of the public transportation system is a general consensus, but according to studies other means to lower the use of private cars are probably also needed in the future.^[3]

In Helsinki, public transportation is mostly managed under Helsinki City Transport, the city's transportation authority. The diverse public transport system consists of trams, light commuter rail, the subway, bus lines and two ferry lines. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council manages traffic to the surrounding municipalities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen.

Today, Helsinki is the only city in Finland to have trams or subway trains. There used to be two other cities in Finland with trams: Turku and Viipuri (Vyborg), but both have since abandoned trams. The Helsinki Metro, opened in the year 1982, is so far the only subway system in Finland. In 2006, the construction of the long debated extension of the subway system west into Espoo was approved, and serious debate about an eastern extension into Sipoo has taken place.^[4]

M/S Silja Symphony leaving from Helsinki.

Air traffic is handled primarily from the international Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, located approximately 19 kilometres north of Helsinki's downtown area, in the neighbouring city of Vantaa. The airport provides scheduled non-stop flights to many important cities in Europe, Asia and North America. Helsinki's second airport, Malmi Airport, is generally used for general and private aviation.

Ferry connections to Tallinn and Stockholm are serviced by various companies. Finnlines passenger-freight ferries to Travemünde, Germany are also available, while Tallink began service to Rostock, Germany in 2007. Copterline has provided fast helicopter flights to Tallinn, however they have suspended service indefinitely at this time.

[edit] Other services

The largest hospitals of Finland are located in Helsinki, for example HYKS and many private hospitals. Also police and fire departments serve citizens.

[edit] Politics

Main article: Politics of Helsinki

Helsinki has eighty-five members in its city council. The three largest parties are National Coalition (25), Social Democrats (21) and Greens (17).

[edit] Geography

The Climate in Helsinki.

Main article: Geography of Helsinki

Helsinki spreads around a number of bays and peninsulas and over a number of islands. The inner city area occupies a southern peninsula, which is rarely referred to by its actual name Vironniemi. Population density in certain parts of Helsinki's inner city area is very high, reaching 16 494/km² in the district of Kallio, but as a whole Helsinki's population density of 3050/km² ranks it as quite sparsely populated in comparison to other European capital cities. Much of Helsinki outside the inner city area consists of postwar suburbs separated from each other by patches of forests. A narrow, ten kilometer long Helsinki Central Park that stretches from the inner city to the northern border of Helsinki is an important recreational area for the residents.

Some notable islands in Helsinki include Seurasaari, Lauttasaari and Korkeasaari – which is also the country's biggest zoo – as well as the fortress island of Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) and the military island of Santahamina.

[edit] Climate

The city's climate is humid continental (dfb), meaning the average of the coldest month is no more than −3 °C. Summers are usually warm, although temperatures over 30 °C are uncommon. Helsinki is situated on approximately the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska, making it the second northernmost capital in the world after Reykjavík, Iceland, hence the very short days in winter.

[edit] Architecture

The view across summertime Kaisaniemenlahti.

Carl Ludvig Engel (1778-1840) designed several neo-classical buildings in Helsinki. He was kept in Helsinki by a unique assignment, as he was elected to plan a new city centre all on his own. The city became shallow and wide at the time when most buildings had only two or three floors. The central point of Engel's city plan is the Senate Square, surrounded by the Government's Palace, the main building of the University, and the enormous Cathedral, which was finished in 1852, twelve years after C. L. Engel's death. Engels's neo-classical plan of the city centre has later given Helsinki the epithet The White City Of The North.

The Helsinki Cathedral (Fin. Helsingin tuomiokirkko, Swe. Helsingfors domkyrka). The cathedral is probably the most prominent building in the city, and its symbol.

Helsinki is, however, perhaps even more famous for its numerous Art Nouveau (Jugend in Finnish) buildings, designed in the early 1900s and strongly influenced by the Kalevala, which is a very popular theme in the national romantic art of that era. Helsinki's Art Nouveau style is also featured in large residential areas such as Katajanokka and Ullanlinna. The master of the Finnish Art Nouveau was Eliel Saarinen (1873-1950), whose architectural masterpiece was the Helsinki central railway station.

The Helsinki Senate Square is a popular photography location for tourists.

Helsinki also features several buildings by the world-renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), attributed as one of the pioneers in functionalism. Many of Aalto's works are either loved or hated. Aalto's buildings, such as the headquarters of the paper company Enso and the concert and congress house Finlandia Hall, have sparked much debate amongst Helsinki's inhabitants.

In addition to Aalto's work, there is a body of other noteworthy functionalist architecture in Helsinki, such as the Olympic Stadium, the Tennis Palace, the Rowing Stadium, the Swimming Stadium, the Velodrome, the Glass Palace, the Exhibition Hall (now Töölö Sports Hall) and Helsinki-Malmi Airport. The sports venues were built to serve the 1940 Helsinki Olympic Games (cancelled due to the Second World War), but eventually got to fulfill their purpose in the 1952 Olympic Games. Many of them are listed by DoCoMoMo as significant examples of modern architecture. The Olympic Stadium and Helsinki-Malmi Airport are in addition catalogued by the National Board of Antiquities as cultural-historical environments of national significance.

During the 1960s and 1970s many aesthetically and historically important houses were swiftly demolished to make room for the rapidly expanding city and instead houses presenting more values of functionalism were built. This has later been widely regarded as a bad move and has led to a strong protectionism of old buildings in Helsinki. The plans made during the era of rapid growth expected Helsinki to have well over one million inhabitants at the turn of the millennium. Much due to the strong protectionism of today there are still many areas left with distinctive old wooden houses, such as Käpylä, Kumpula, Toukola and Puu-Vallila.

As a historical footnote, Helsinki's neoclassical buildings were often used as a backdrop for scenes set to take place in the Soviet Union in many Cold War era Hollywood movies. Some of the more notable ones are The Kremlin Letter (1970), Reds (1981) and Gorky Park (1983). Because some of the streetscapes were reminiscent of Leningrad's and Moscow's old buildings, they were used in the production - much to some residents' dismay. At the same time the government secretly briefed it's white-collar workers to make producing these, often clearly Soviet-negative, films in Helsinki as hard as possible due to diplomatic pressure from Moscow.^[5]

Australian twee/synth band Architecture in Helsinki has obviously been impressed by Helsinki's buildings, given their band name.

[edit] Culture

The National Opera by the Bay of Töölö

Helsinki can also be considered Finland's culture-capital.

The biggest historical museum in Helsinki is the National Museum of Finland, which displays a vast historical collection from prehistoric times to the 21st century. The museum building itself, a national romantic style neo-medieval castle, is a tourist attraction. Other major historical museum is the Helsinki City Museum, which introduces visitors to Helsinki's 500 year history. The University of Helsinki also has many significant museums, including the University Museum and the Natural History Museum.

The Finnish National Gallery consists on three museums: Ateneum Art Museum for classical Finnish art, Sinebrychoff Art Museum for classical European art, and Kiasma Art Museum for modern art. The old Ateneum, a neo-renaissance palace from 19th century, is one of the city's major historical buildings, whereas the highly modern Kiasma is probably the most debated building in Helsinki.

Helsinki has three major theatres: The Finnish National Theatre, the Helsinki City Theatre, and the Finland Swedish Svenska Teatern. The city's main musical venues are the Finnish National Opera and the Finlandia concert-hall. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: the Hartwall Areena or the Helsingin Jäähalli. Helsinki has Finland's largest fair centre.

Helsinki is also known for its active ICT and digital cultures scene in Greater Helsinki.

Widely renowned bands originating from Helsinki include Children of Bodom, HIM, The Rasmus, The 69 Eyes, Hanoi Rocks and Stratovarius.

To date Helsinki has had the largest Complaints Choir.

[edit] Events

• The Helsinki Festival is an annual arts and culture festival, which takes place every August (including the Night of the Arts).
• Valon Voimat "Forces of Light" is an annual winter arts festival.
• Vappu "Vappu" is an annual carnival for students and workers.

Helsinki is set to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, the first ever Eurovision Song Contest arranged in Finland.

[edit] Tourism

See also: Tourism in Finland and List of sites in Helsinki

Joulukatu, Finnish for "Christmas street".

Hietaniemi Beach, commonly called Hietsu.

Helsinki is small and intimate; lively but not bustling. Its size makes it easy to walk around and cafés, markets, and the nearby islands are its summer delights.

Because Helsinki is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea and has many kilometres of coastline, most of its central districts are near the seaside. Helsinki is a very maritime city and is popularly called the daughter of the Baltic.

Helsinki's coastal position makes it ideal to experience in the summertime from one of the many sightseeing ferries leaving from the port of Helsinki. Many of Helsinki's main attractions are also related to the sea, including the Suomenlinna naval fortress (a UNESCO World Heritage site) and the Seurasaari Island with its parks and open-air museum. Locals often spend sunny days at the Hietaniemi Beach (often simply called Hietsu), Helsinki's main beach in the district of Töölö.

In the winter-time Helsinki's northern position makes it dark for most of the day, thus making it a cosy town with much interesting lighting, such as the classic Aleksanterinkatu's Christmas street (Joulukatu). During the coldest months of the winter it is very common for Helsinkians to go for walks on the frozen sea, although much caution must be taken. There are also many places for ice swimming along the coast, some with saunas.

Air travel to Helsinki is via the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, situated in the neighbouring town of Vantaa, a town part of Greater Helsinki. Helsinki also has popular cruiseferry links with Stockholm, Sweden and hydrofoil and catamaran links to Tallinn, Estonia. Silja, Viking and Tallink are the biggest ferry operators.

Helsinki is also the home of the Linnanmäki amusement park, which features five rollercoasters and many other rides, including the world's first Intamin ZacSpin rollercoaster, set to open April 2007.

[edit] Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Helsinki

Kustaanmiekka strait through Suomenlinna Sea Fortress.	Helsinki Olympic Stadium Tower, offers a good view over Helsinki.	A cast of Paavo Nurmi, the flying finn sculpture by Wäinö Aaltonen in Helsinki.	Wall of Parliament House
Helsinki Central railway station.	Rooftops of the southern inner city districts.	Finnish National Theatre.	Port of Helsinki and the Helsinki Cathedral.
The Uspenski Orthodox cathedral.	Altar of Temppeliaukio Church that is built underground.	The Esplanadi Park in central Helsinki.	The Senaatintori square on a winter morning.
Stockmann department store along the Aleksanterinkatu's Christmas street.	Helsinki market square covered in snow.	The National Museum of Finland is located in Helsinki.	Kamppi Center, a complex in the district of Kamppi, in the centre of Helsinki.

For more pictures of Helsinki see Wikimedia Commons.

[edit] Notable natives

For a more thorough list see the Wikipedia category People from Helsinki.

[edit] Sports

Main article: Sport in Helsinki

Helsinki has a long tradition of sports, the city gained much of its initial international recognition during the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the city has since then been very open to arranging sporting events. Helsinki hosts fairly successful local teams in both of the most popular team-sports in Finland, football and ice hockey. The later being a sport of passion for many Helsinkians, who usually take a stance for either of the local clubs HIFK or Jokerit. The strong culture of ice hockey has led to Helsinki becoming the birthplace of many legendary National Hockey League stars such as Teemu Selänne, Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen.

[edit] See also

• Helsinki Accords
• Subdivisions of Helsinki

[edit] References

1. ^ Aluesarjat - Statistics page maintained by the main cities in Greater Helsinki
2. ^ ^{a b c d} The Population Registre Center of Finland Väestörekisterikeskus,Kuntien väestömäärä aakkosjärjestyksessä 31.1 2007([The Finnish] Population by municipalities in alphabetical order 31.1 2007)
3. ^ ^{a b} 1 January 2007, Hufvudstadsbladet - Helsingfors en metropol om hundra år. Citing Professors Ache(metropolitan planning, Helsinki University of Technology) and Vaatovaara(University of Helsinki), and statistics from The European Economic Research Consortium
4. ^ www.lansimetro.fi - an information portal dedicated to the "länsimetro" subway expansion in the Helsinki capital region.
5. ^ Finnish Department of Foreign Affairs, memo 56 (labelled highly confidential in 1982)PDF (1.37 MiB)

[edit] External links

• Map of Helsinki
• Official website (in English; other languages available)
• Helsinki.fi City Portal
• Under the Open Sky Photo gallery of the nature, streets, sightseeings and happenings
• Photo Gallery Street life
• Open the albums Search photos of normal life from the last 100 years.
• Helsinki travel guide from Wikitravel
• Journey Planner – a web application for determining public transport routes
• Webcam live webcam
• Kite Aerial – photos taken with a kite-attached camera
• Youtube Video – Helsinki Complaints Choir

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 60.17° 24.937°
  • Mapping from Multimap or GlobalGuide or Google Maps
  • Aerial image from TerraServer
  • Satellite image from WikiMapia
  • Guide map of Helsinki and Metropolitan area
  • Helsinki City Geographic Information system
  • Map of central Helsinki
  • Map of Helsinki in 1876
  • Map of Helsinki in 1902
  • Satellite map of Helsinki

	Municipalities of Uusimaa
	Ekenäs | Espoo | Hanko | Helsinki | Hyvinkää | Ingå | Järvenpää | Karis | Karjalohja | Karkkila | Kauniainen | Kerava | Kirkkonummi | Lohja | Mäntsälä | Nummi-Pusula | Nurmijärvi | Pohja | Pornainen | Sammatti | Siuntio | Tuusula | Vantaa | Vihti
	Uusimaa Region | Southern Finland | Finland

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1896: Athens • 1900: Paris • 1904: St. Louis • 1908: London • 1912: Stockholm • 1920: Antwerp • 1924: Paris • 1928: Amsterdam • 1932: Los Angeles • 1936: Berlin • 1948: London • 1952: Helsinki • 1956: Melbourne • 1960: Rome • 1964: Tokyo • 1968: Mexico City • 1972: Munich • 1976: Montreal • 1980: Moscow • 1984: Los Angeles • 1988: Seoul • 1992: Barcelona • 1996: Atlanta • 2000: Sydney • 2004: Athens • 2008: Beijing • 2012: London