Erottaja ( sv, Skillnaden), meaning "the separator", is a public square near the centre of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Erottaja square has been selected as the official geographic " zero point" of Helsinki. Distances to all other cities in Finland are measured starting from here. In practice, the square functions as the meeting point of central Helsinki's two famous streets, Esplanadi and Mannerheimintie. The square is the western endpoint of Esplanadi, with the eastern endpoint being at the

market square The market square (or sometimes, the market place) is a Town square, square meant for trading, in which a market is held. It is an important feature of many towns and cities around the world.Töölö Töölö (; sv, Tölö, formerly spelled ''Thölö'') is the collective name for the neighbourhoods Etu-Töölö ( sv, Främre Tölö, lit=Front Töölö, links=no) and Taka-Töölö ( sv, Bortre Tölö, lit=Rear Töölö, links=no) in Helsinki ...

and

Ruskeasuo Ruskeasuo (Brunakärr in Swedish, verbatim "Brown swamp") is a neighbourhood of Helsinki (Helsingfors in Swedish), about 3 kilometres north of the city center. With a population of 2670 (year 2005) Ruskeasuo is a rather quiet residential area. ...

, until finally merging with a highway leading outside the city. The starting points of both Finnish national roads, the

Tampere Highway Finnish national road 3 ( fi, Valtatie 3 or '; sv, Riksväg 3) is a highway in Finland between Helsinki and Vaasa via Hämeenlinna and Tampere. The road is long and it is part of the European route E12. of the highway is motorway, connecting He ...

( E12) and the

Lahti Highway , sv, Riksfyran; fi, Lahdenväylä; sv, Lahtisleden , maint = the Finnish Transport Agency , map = Finland national road 4.png , length_km = 1295 , length_round = , length_ref = , established = 1938 , direction_a = , terminus_a = Helsi ...

( E75), are located approximately in Erottaja. There is also a minor

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is l ...

at Erottaja. Very few lines start or end there, most of them start or end at the Kamppi Center or at

Rautatientori Helsinki Railway Square ( fi, Rautatientori, sv, Järnvägstorget) is an open square immediately to the east of the Helsinki Central railway station in central Helsinki in Finland. The square serves as Helsinki's secondary bus station along with ...

. The Swedish Theatre (

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

: ''Svenska teatern'', Finnish: ''Ruotsalainen teatteri'') is located at Erottaja, at the western edge of the Esplanadi park. A sculpture named ''Usko toivo rakkaus'' (Swedish: ''Tro hopp kärlek''), meaning "Faith hope love", by Eva Lange, was erected in front of it in September 2019.Pajuriutta, Satu
Bussiasemasta ja nakkikioskista tuttu Erottaja on nyt paraatiaukio, joka muistuttaa Suomen ja Ruotsin yhteiselosta
''

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

'' 12 September 2019. Accessed on 1 August 2021. Erottaja is also famous for being the most expensive lot in the original Finnish edition of

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

, even more expensive than Mannerheimintie (the second most expensive lot). This has earned the square fame even outside Helsinki.

References

Squares in Helsinki {{SouthernFinland-geo-stub