Kluuvi

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Kluuvi
Gloet
Position of Kluuvi within Helsinki
Subdivisions of Helsinki
Subdivision number 02
District Southern
Area 0.93 km²
Population data
 - Population 391 (2003)
 - Pop. density 420 /km²
Postal codes 00100
Subdivision regions none
Neighbouring subdivisions Kruununhaka
Siltasaari
Kaartinkaupunki
Kamppi
Etu-Töölö
Linjat

Kluuvi (Swedish: Gloet) is the commercial centre of Helsinki, Finland, and a district in the Vironniemi area of Helsinki. The Helsinki Central railway station, the Helsinki main post office, the Stockmann and Sokos department stores, the Kluuvi shopping centre and the main offices of Finnish banks are located in Kluuvi. From a cultural aspect, Kluuvi includes the central campus of the University of Helsinki, the Ateneum art museum and the movie theatres Maxim, Kinopalatsi and Bristol.

Esplanadi park at summer time
Esplanadi park at summer time

The district has 23,000 jobs and a couple hundred inhabitants.

The Finnish word kluuvi means a bay that is growing closed. The district was originally a bay in the Gulf of Finland, growing closed with swamps. The odour of rotting seaweed and other plants can still be smelled in construction sites. The Kluuvi bay was filled in the end of the 19th century.

The Helsinki Metro construction found a kluuvi in practice in the district, when the place where the metro tunnel was supposed to go didn't have a solid rock base after all. The soft ground had to be artificially frozen before it was possibly to dig through it and construct a solid base for metro track.

Stockmann department store Christmas decoration and Aleksanterinkatu Christmas lighting are probably the most famous public traditional Christmas decorations in Finland
Stockmann department store Christmas decoration and Aleksanterinkatu Christmas lighting are probably the most famous public traditional Christmas decorations in Finland
Aleksanterinkatu Christmas lighting
Aleksanterinkatu Christmas lighting
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Sanomatalo press building has editorial offices of some well-known newspapers like Helsingin Sanomat
Sanomatalo press building has editorial offices of some well-known newspapers like Helsingin Sanomat

Coordinates: 60°10′N, 24°57′E