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Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital,
primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...
, and
most populous city The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the city proper, cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or th ...
of
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 ...
. Located on the shore of the
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
, it is the seat of the region of
Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, ...
in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city's urban area has a population of , making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland as well as the country's most important center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research; while
Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...
in the
Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; sv, Birkaland; la, Birkaria, link=no), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme an ...
region, located to the north from Helsinki, is the second largest urban area in Finland. Helsinki is located north of
Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
, east of
Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...
, and west of
Saint Petersburg, Russia Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. It has close historical ties with these three cities. Together with the cities of
Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...
,
Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...
, and
Kauniainen Kauniainen (; sv, Grankulla) is a small town and a municipality of inhabitants () in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. It is surrounded and enclaved by the City of Espoo, in the Capital Region of Greater Helsinki. Kauniainen was founde ...
(and surrounding commuter towns, including the eastern neighboring municipality of
Sipoo Sipoo (; sv, Sibbo) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The administrative center of the munic ...
), Helsinki forms the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which has a population of over 1.5 million. Often considered to be Finland's only metropolis, it is the world's northernmost metro area with over one million people as well as the northernmost capital of an EU member state. After
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
and Stockholm, Helsinki is the third largest municipality in the Nordic countries.
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
and
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 ...
are both official languages. The city is served by the international
Helsinki Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. ...
, located in the neighboring city of Vantaa, with frequent service to many destinations in Europe and Asia. Helsinki was the
World Design Capital The World Design Capital (WDC) is a city promotion project by the World Design Organization (formerly named the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design )to recognize and award accomplishments made by cities around the world in the f ...
for 2012, the venue for the
1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...
, and the host of the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest in 2007. Helsinki has one of the world's highest standards of urban living. In 2011, the British magazine ''
Monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...
'' ranked Helsinki the world's most liveable city in its liveable cities index. In the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2016 liveability survey, Helsinki was ranked ninth among 140 cities. In July 2021, the American magazine ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' ranked Helsinki one of the greatest places in the world in 2021 as a city that "can grow into a sprouting cultural nest in the future," and which has already been known in the world as an
environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
pioneer. An international ''Cities of Choice'' survey conducted in 2021 by the consulting firm
Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by re ...
and the BCG Henderson Institute raised Helsinki the third best city in the world to live, with
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
ranking the first and the second. Also, together with
Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per ...
in the Lapland region, Helsinki is one of Finland's most significant tourist cities in terms of foreign tourism. Due to the large number of sea passengers per year, Helsinki is classed as a Large-Port City .


Etymology

According to a theory presented in the 1630s, at the time of Swedish colonisation of coastal areas of Finland, colonists from
Hälsingland Hälsingland (), sometimes referred to as Helsingia in English, is a historical province or ''landskap'' in central Sweden. It borders Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is part of the land of Norrland. ...
in central
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
had arrived at what is now known as the
Vantaa River The Vantaa ( fi, Vantaanjoki, ) is a long river in Southern Finland. The river starts from the lake in Hausjärvi and flows into the Gulf of Finland at ' in Helsinki. One of the tributaries of the Vantaa river is Keravanjoki that flows throug ...
and called it ''Helsingå'' ("Helsinge River"), which gave rise to the names of Helsinge village and
church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...
in the 1300s. This theory is questionable, because dialect research suggests that the settlers arrived from
Uppland Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...
and nearby areas. Others have proposed the name as having been derived from the Swedish word ''helsing'', an archaic form of the word ''hals'' ( neck), referring to the narrowest part of a river, the rapids. Other Scandinavian cities at similar geographic locations were given similar names at the time, e.g.
Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northe ...
in Denmark and
Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...
in Sweden. When a town was founded in Forsby village (later known as ''Koskela'') in 1548, it was named ''Helsinge fors'', "Helsinge rapids". The name refers to the rapids at the mouth of the river. The town was commonly known as ''Helsinge'' or ''Helsing'', from which the contemporary Finnish name arose. Official
Finnish Government sv, Finlands statsråd , border = , image = File:Finnish Government logo.png , image_size = 250 , caption = , date = , state = Republic of Finland , polity = , cou ...
documents and Finnish language newspapers have used the name ''Helsinki'' since 1819, when the Senate of Finland moved itself into the city from
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
, the former capital of Finland. The decrees issued in Helsinki were dated with Helsinki as the place of issue. This is how the form Helsinki came to be used in
written Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...
Finnish. As part of the
Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...
in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, Helsinki was known as ''Gel'singfors'' (Гельсингфорс) in Russian. In Helsinki slang, the city is called ''Stadi'' (from the Swedish word ''stad'', meaning "city"). People from other areas of Finland might use ''Hesa'' (short for Helsinki). ' is the
Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...
name of Helsinki.


History


Early history

Since the end of the
Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
, after the retreat of the ice cover, first colonizers came to the area around Helsinki at about 5000 BC. Their presence was documented by archeologists in
Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...
,
Pitäjänmäki Pitäjänmäki () is a district located on the westernmost district of Helsinki, Finland, near the border with Espoo. There are many IT and machine manufacturing companies in the area, especially around the Valimo railway station. Such compani ...
and
Kaarela Kaarela ( sv, Kårböle) is a subdistrict in a Western major district of Helsinki, Finland. Kaarela is split into four subareas: Kannelmäki (12,569 inhabitants), Maununneva (2,501 inhabitants), Malminkartano (8,538 inhabitants) and Hakuninmaa ...
. Permanent settlements appeared only at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, in the
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, when the area was inhabited by
Tavastians Tavastians ( fi, Hämäläiset, sv, Tavaster, russian: Емь, Yem, Yam) are a historic people and a modern subgroup (heimo) of the Finnish people. They live in areas of the historical province of Tavastia (Häme) and speak Tavastian dialects ...
. They used the area for fishing and hunting, but due to a lack of archeological finds it is difficult to say how extensive their settlements were.
Pollen analysis Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits ...
has shown that there were cultivating settlements in the area in the 10th century and surviving historical records from the 14th century describe Tavastian settlements in the area. The early settlements were raided by
Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
, later substituted by Christianized colonists from
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. They arrived mostly from the Swedish coastal regions of
Norrland Norrland (, "Northland", originally ''Norrlanden'' or "the Northlands") is the northernmost, largest and least populated of the three traditional lands of Sweden, consisting of nine provinces. Although Norrland does not serve any administ ...
and
Hälsingland Hälsingland (), sometimes referred to as Helsingia in English, is a historical province or ''landskap'' in central Sweden. It borders Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is part of the land of Norrland. ...
, which especially intensified by the years of 1100. Swedes colonized the coastline of the Helsinki region permanently in the late 13th century after the successful Second Crusade to Finland, which led to the defeat of the Tavastians. Written chronicles of 1417 mentioned
Koskela Koskela ( sv, Forsby, lit. "rapids village") is a district in the city of Helsinki, Finland. There are about 3 300 inhabitants. The borough is surrounded by Käpylä, Kumpula, Vanhakaupunki, and Oulunkylä. Koskela is located in the subdivisi ...
village near the rapids close to the mouth of the
Vantaa River The Vantaa ( fi, Vantaanjoki, ) is a long river in Southern Finland. The river starts from the lake in Hausjärvi and flows into the Gulf of Finland at ' in Helsinki. One of the tributaries of the Vantaa river is Keravanjoki that flows throug ...
, near which Helsinki would be founded.


Founding of Helsinki

Helsinki was established as a trading town by King
Gustav I of Sweden Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksför ...
in 12 June 1550, as the town of Helsingfors, which he intended to be a rival to the
Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...
city of Reval on the southern shores of the
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
(today known as
Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
). In order to populate his newly founded town in the mouth of the
Vantaa River The Vantaa ( fi, Vantaanjoki, ) is a long river in Southern Finland. The river starts from the lake in Hausjärvi and flows into the Gulf of Finland at ' in Helsinki. One of the tributaries of the Vantaa river is Keravanjoki that flows throug ...
, the King issued an order to resettle the
bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
of
Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...
, Ekenäs, Rauma and
Ulvila Ulvila (; sv, Ulvsby) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is one of the six medieval cities of Finland, as well as the third oldest city in the country. Ulvila was granted charter as a town by King Albert of Sweden on 7 February 1365. How ...
into the town. Shallowness of the bay did not permit the building of a harbor, and the king allowed settlers to abandon the unfortunate place. In 1640, Count
Per Brahe the Younger Count Per Brahe the Younger (18 February 1602 – 12 September 1680) was a Swedish soldier, statesman, and author. He served as Privy Councillor from 1630, Lord High Steward from 1640, as well as Governor-General of Finland in 1637–1640 and 1 ...
moved the city center with few descendants of the original settlers to the
Vironniemi Vironniemi ( sv, Estnäs; literally the "Cape of Estonia" or the "Estonian Peninsula"Kruununhaka Kruununhaka (; ) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Kruununhaka became the area next to the harbour and the center, when Helsinki was moved from the earlier location in the mid-1660s. From the very beginning, the residents i ...
neighborhood, where the Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral are now located. In the course of the second half of the 17th century Helsinki, as a wooden town, suffered from regular fires, and by the beginning of the 18th century its population was below 1,700 inhabitants. For a long time, Helsinki was mainly a small administrative city of the governors of the
Nyland and Tavastehus County Nyland and Tavastehus County (, ) was a Counties of Sweden, county of the Swedish Empire in Finland from 1634 to 1809. In 1775 whole northern part of the county (later Central Finland region) was transferred to the new Vaasa Province, Vasa Count ...
, but its importance began to grow as a more solid naval defense began to be built in front of the city in the 18th century. Little came of the plans as Helsinki remained a tiny town plagued by poverty, wars, and diseases. The plague of 1710 killed the greater part of the inhabitants of Helsinki. In the end of the
Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...
in 1721, the retreating Swedish administration burned Helsinki down. Despite of that, by the beginning of the 19th century the number of the city inhabitants grew to 3,000. The construction of the naval fortress Sveaborg (in Finnish ''Viapori'', today also ''Suomenlinna'') in the 18th century helped improve Helsinki's status, but it was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the
Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic ...
and annexed Finland as the autonomous
Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...
in 1809 that the town began to develop into a substantial city. Russians besieged the Sveaborg fortress during the war, and about one quarter of the town was destroyed in an 1808 fire. Emperor
Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son of ...
moved the Finnish capital from
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
to Helsinki on 8 April 1812 to reduce Swedish influence in Finland, and to bring the capital closer to Saint Petersburg. Following the
Great Fire of Turku The Great Fire of Turku ( fi, Turun palo, sv, Åbo brand and russian: Пожар Або) was a conflagration in the city of Turku in 1827. It is still the largest urban fire in the history of Finland and the Nordic countries. The city had burned ...
in 1827, the
Royal Academy of Turku The Royal Academy of Turku or the Royal Academy of Åbo ( sv, Kungliga Akademin i Åbo or ; la, Regia Academia Aboensis; fi, Turun akatemia) was the first university in Finland, and the only Finnish university that was founded when the country ...
, which at the time was the country's only university, was also relocated to Helsinki and eventually became the modern
University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...
. The move consolidated the city's new role and helped set it on a path of continuous growth. This transformation is highly apparent in the downtown core, which was rebuilt in the neoclassical style to resemble Saint Petersburg, mostly to a plan by the German-born architect
C. L. Engel Carl Ludvig Engel, or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840), was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ...
. As elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and
industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
were key factors behind the city's growth.


Twentieth century

The population of Helsinki was already over 100,000 in the 1910s, and despite the tumultuous nature of Finnish history during the first half of the 20th century (including the
Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...
and the
Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
which both left marks on the city), Helsinki continued its steady development. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were approximately the same number of Finnish and Swedish speakers in Helsinki; the majority of the workers were Finnish-speaking. The local Helsinki slang (or ''stadin slangi'') developed among Finnish children and young people as a mixed Finnish-Swedish language from the 1890s, and it was also influenced by the
Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
, and from the 1950s onwards, slang began to become more Finnish. A landmark event was the 1952 Olympic Games, held in Helsinki. Finland's rapid urbanization in the 1970s, occurring late relative to the rest of Europe, tripled the population in the metropolitan area, and the
Helsinki Metro The Helsinki Metro ( fi, Helsingin metro, sv, Helsingfors metro) is a rapid transit system serving Greater Helsinki, Finland. It is the world's northernmost metro system. It was opened to the general public on 2 August 1982 after 27 years of p ...
subway system was built. The relatively sparse population density of Helsinki and its peculiar structure have often been attributed to the lateness of its growth.


Geography

Called the "Daughter of the Baltic"
or the "Pearl of the Baltic Sea", Helsinki is on the tip of a peninsula and on 315 islands. The inner city is located on a southern peninsula, ''Helsinginniemi'' ("Cape of Helsinki), which is rarely referred to by its actual name,
Vironniemi Vironniemi ( sv, Estnäs; literally the "Cape of Estonia" or the "Estonian Peninsula"Kallio, but as a whole Helsinki's population density of ranks the city as rather sparsely populated in comparison to other European capital cities. Outside of the inner city, much of Helsinki consists of postwar suburbs separated by patches of forest. A narrow, long Helsinki Central Park, stretching from the inner city to Helsinki's northern border, is an important recreational area for residents. The City of Helsinki has about 11,000 boat berths and possesses over 14,000 hectares (34,595 acres; 54.1 sq mi) of marine fishing waters adjacent to the Capital Region. Some 60 fish species are found in this area and recreational fishing is popular. Major islands in Helsinki include
Seurasaari Seurasaari ( sv, Fölisön) is an island and a district in Helsinki, Finland, known mostly as the location of the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum, which consists of old, mainly wooden buildings transplanted from elsewhere in Finland and placed in the de ...
, Vallisaari,
Lauttasaari Lauttasaari (; sv, Drumsö) is an island in Helsinki, Finland, about west of the city centre. Together with some surrounding unpopulated small islands, Lauttasaari is also a district of Helsinki. With 23,226 residents as of 2017, the island is F ...
, and
Korkeasaari Korkeasaari ( sv, Högholmen) is an island in Helsinki. The literal meaning of Korkeasaari is "Tall Island/Islet". It is part of the Mustikkamaa–Korkeasaari district. Korkeasaari Zoo is located on the island and named after it. The island ...
 – the latter being the site of Finland's largest
zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...
called
Korkeasaari Zoo Korkeasaari Zoo ( fi, Korkeasaaren eläintarha, previously known as ''Helsinki Zoo'') is the largest zoo in Finland, located on the island of Korkeasaari in Helsinki. The zoo was first opened in 1889, originally showcasing common animals from Fi ...
. Other noteworthy islands are the fortress island of Suomenlinna (Sveaborg), the military island of Santahamina, and Isosaari.
Pihlajasaari Pihlajasaari (Rönnskär in Swedish) is an island in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Pihlajasaari actually consists of two separate islands connected with a bridge. The islands can only be reached by boat, and in summer there is a privately o ...
island is a favorite summer spot for gay men and naturists, comparable to
Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Lo ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. There are 60
nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
s in Helsinki with a total area of . Of the total area, are water areas and are land areas. In addition, the city owns seven nature reserves in
Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...
,
Sipoo Sipoo (; sv, Sibbo) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The administrative center of the munic ...
,
Hanko Hanko may refer to People *August Hanko (military personnel), August Hanko, German First World War flying ace Places *Hanko, Finland, town and municipality *Hanko Peninsula, Finland *Hankø, an island in the Oslo Fjord in Norway *The asteroid ...
and
Ingå Ingå (; fi, Inkoo) is a municipality of Finland. Ingå is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density ...
. The largest nature reserve is the Vanhankaupunginselkä, with an area of . The city's first nature reserve, Tiiraluoto of Lauttasaari, was established in 1948. The title plant of Helsinki is the
Norway maple ''Acer platanoides'', commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, from Spain east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran. It was introduced to ...
and the title animal is the
red squirrel The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent. In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers ...
.


Metropolitan area

The Helsinki metropolitan area, also known as the Capital Region (
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
: ''Pääkaupunkiseutu'',
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 ...
: ''Huvudstadsregionen'') comprises four municipalities: Helsinki,
Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...
,
Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...
, and
Kauniainen Kauniainen (; sv, Grankulla) is a small town and a municipality of inhabitants () in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. It is surrounded and enclaved by the City of Espoo, in the Capital Region of Greater Helsinki. Kauniainen was founde ...
. The
Helsinki urban area The Helsinki urban area (, sv, Helsingfors centraltätort), is the largest ''taajama'' in Finland.metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...
in
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 ...
. It has a population of over 1.1 million, and is the most densely populated area of
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 ...
. The Capital Region spreads over a land area of and has a population density of . With over 20 percent of the country's population in just 0.2 percent of its surface area, the area's housing density is high by Finnish standards. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area ( Greater Helsinki) consists of the cities of Helsinki Capital Region and ten surrounding municipalities:
Hyvinkää Hyvinkää (; sv, Hyvinge, ) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region, approximately north of the capital Helsinki. The city was chartered in 1960. The population of Hyvinkää is (). Its neighboring municipal ...
,
Järvenpää Järvenpää (; sv, Träskända) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located on the Helsinki–Riihimäki railway track in Uusimaa region, some north of Helsinki. Neighbouring municipalities are Tuusula, Sipoo and Mäntsälä. People ...
, Kerava,
Kirkkonummi Kirkkonummi (; sv, Kyrkslätt, , Sweden ) is a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of inhabitants () in southern Finland. The literal meaning of the words "''Kirkkonummi''" and "''Kyrkslätt''" in English language, English is "church heath". ...
,
Nurmijärvi Nurmijärvi () is the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...
,
Sipoo Sipoo (; sv, Sibbo) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The administrative center of the munic ...
,
Tuusula Tuusula (; sv, Tusby ) is a municipality of Finland. It belongs to the Helsinki sub-region of the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and is by far the third largest municipality in Finland after Nurmijärvi and Kirkkonummi ...
,
Pornainen Pornainen (; sv, Borgnäs) is a small municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. The neighboring municipalities are Askola in the east, Mäntsälä in the north, Porvoo in the so ...
, Mäntsälä and
Vihti Vihti (; sv, Vichtis) is a small municipality located in the Uusimaa region of province of Southern Finland, approximately northwest of the capital city Helsinki. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is wate ...
. The Metropolitan Area covers and has a population of over 1.4 million, or about a fourth of the total population of Finland. The metropolitan area has a high concentration of employment: approximately 750,000 jobs. Despite the intensity of land use, the region also has large recreational areas and green spaces. The Greater Helsinki area is the world's northernmost urban area with a population of over one million people, and the northernmost EU capital city. The
Helsinki urban area The Helsinki urban area (, sv, Helsingfors centraltätort), is the largest ''taajama'' in Finland.urban area in Finland, defined by its population density. The area stretches throughout 11 municipalities, and is the largest such area in Finland, with a land area of and approximately 1.2 million inhabitants.


Climate

Helsinki has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Dfb'') similar to that of
Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...
or
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
coastal. Owing to the mitigating influence of the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
and
North Atlantic Current The North Atlantic Current (NAC), also known as North Atlantic Drift and North Atlantic Sea Movement, is a powerful warm western boundary current within the Atlantic Ocean that extends the Gulf Stream northeastward. The NAC originates from wher ...
(see also
Extratropical cyclone Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of ...
), temperatures during the winter are higher than the northern location might suggest, with the average in January and February around . Winters in Helsinki are notably warmer than in the north of Finland, and the snow season is much shorter in the capital, due to it being in extreme Southern Finland and the
urban heat island An urban heat island (UHI) is an urban or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparen ...
effect. Temperatures below occur a few times a year at most. However, because of the latitude, days last 5 hours and 48 minutes around the
winter solstice The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winter ...
with very low sun (at noon, the sun is a little bit over 6 degrees in the sky), and the cloudy weather at this time of year exacerbates darkness. Conversely, Helsinki enjoys long daylight during the summer; during the summer solstice, days last 18 hours and 57 minutes. The average maximum temperature from June to August is around . Due to the marine effect, especially during hot summer days, daily temperatures are a little cooler and night temperatures higher than further inland. The highest temperature ever recorded in the city was , on 28 July 2019 at Kaisaniemi weather station, breaking the previous record of that was observed in July 1945 at Ilmala weather station. The lowest temperature ever recorded in the city was , on 10 January 1987 although an unofficial low of was recorded in December 1876.
Helsinki Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. ...
(in Vantaa, north of the Helsinki city centre) recorded a temperature of , on 29 July 2010, and a low of , on 9 January 1987. Precipitation is received from frontal passages and thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are most common in the summer.


Neighbourhoods and other subdivisions

Helsinki is divided into three major areas:
Helsinki Downtown The Helsinki City Centre (Finnish: ''Helsingin kantakaupunki'', Swedish: ''Helsingfors innerstad'') originally referred to the area belonging to the city of Helsinki, Finland before the great annexation on 1 January 1946. After the annexation the ...
( fi, Helsingin kantakaupunki, sv, Helsingfors innerstad), ( fi, Pohjois-Helsinki, sv, Norra Helsingfors) and
East Helsinki East Helsinki ( fi, Itä-Helsinki, sv, Östra Helsingfors) is an area in Helsinki, Finland, usually thought to comprise the city's eastern and south-eastern major districts (, ), including the districts of Vartiokylä, Myllypuro, Mellunkylä, ...
( fi, Itä-Helsinki, sv, Östra Helsingfors). Of these, Helsinki Downtown means the undefined core area of capital, as opposed to
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
s. The designations business center and city center usually refer to Kluuvi, Kamppi and
Punavuori Punavuori ( sv, Rödbergen) is a neighbourhood in the center of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name Punavuori (English: Red mountain) refers to red cliffs located between Sepänkatu and Punavuorenkatu. They were still visible in the 19th ce ...
. Other subdivisional centers outside the downtown area include Malmi ( sv, Malm), located in the northeastern part of city, and
Itäkeskus Itäkeskus ( sv, Östra centrum, literal translation ''East center'') is a '' quarter'' in the neighbourhood of Vartiokylä (as of the 1980s) in Helsinki, Finland. The district's main attraction is the largest covered-in shopping mall in the Nordi ...
( sv, Östra centrum), in the eastern part of city.


Cityscape


Neoclassical and romantic nationalism trend

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel, or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840), was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ...
, appointed to plan a new city centre on his own, designed several neoclassical buildings in Helsinki. The focal point of Engel's city plan was the Senate Square. It is surrounded by the Government Palace (to the east), the main building of Helsinki University (to the west), and (to the north) the large Helsinki Cathedral, which was finished in 1852, twelve years after Engel's death. Helsinki's
epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
, "The White City of the North", derives from this construction era. Most of Helsinki's older buildings were built after the 1808 fire; before that time, the oldest surviving building in the center of Helsinki is the (1757) at the intersection of Senate Square and the Katariinankatu street. Suomenlinna also has buildings completed in the 18th century, including the Kuninkaanportti on the (1753–1754). The oldest church in Helsinki is the Old Church (1826) designed by Engel. Helsinki is also home to numerous Art Nouveau-influenced ( Jugend in Finnish) buildings belonging to the Kansallisromantiikka (
romantic nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...
) trend, designed in the early 20th century and strongly influenced by ''
Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...
'', which was a common theme of the era. Helsinki's Art Nouveau style is also featured in central residential districts, such as
Katajanokka Katajanokka ( sv, Skatudden) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland, with around 4000 inhabitants in 2005. The district is located adjacent to the immediate downtown area, though in the first major town plan for Helsinki from the mid-18th cent ...
and
Ullanlinna (; sv, Ulrikasborg) is a city district of Helsinki, in Finland. The name ''Ullanlinna'' ( en, "Ulla's Castle") refers to the fortification line that was built at the southern edge of the area during the 18th century (no longer visible), as part ...
. An important architect of the Finnish Art Nouveau style was
Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish-American architect known for his work with art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Eero Saarinen. Lif ...
, whose architectural masterpiece was the
Helsinki Central Station Helsinki Central Station ( fi, Helsingin päärautatieasema, sv, Helsingfors centralstation) ( HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 peo ...
. Opposite the Bank of Finland building is the Renaissance Revivalish the House of the Estates (1891). The only visible public buildings of the
Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
in Helsinki are
St. John's Church St. John's Church, Church of St. John, or variants, thereof, (Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Baptist, but also, sometimes, to John the Apostle or John the Evangelist) may refer to the following churches, former churches or other ...
(1891) in Ullanlinna, which is the largest stone church in Finland, and its twin towers rise to 74 meters and have 2,600 seats. Other examples of neo-Gothic include the House of Nobility in
Kruununhaka Kruununhaka (; ) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Kruununhaka became the area next to the harbour and the center, when Helsinki was moved from the earlier location in the mid-1660s. From the very beginning, the residents i ...
and the
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
St. Henry's Cathedral. Helsinki's neoclassical buildings were often used as a backdrop for scenes set to take place in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in many
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
era Hollywood movies, when filming in the USSR was not possible. Some of them include ''
The Kremlin Letter ''The Kremlin Letter'' is a 1970 American neo-noir DeLuxe Color espionage thriller in PanavisionSeymour, Gene. "100 Greatest Spy Movies: A Special Collector's Edition from the Editors of American History. 2009. Weider History Group. directed b ...
'' (1970), ''
Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...
'' (1981), and '' Gorky Park'' (1983). Because some streetscapes were reminiscent of
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
's and
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
's old buildings, they too were used in movie productions. At the same time the government secretly instructed Finnish officials not to extend assistance to such film projects.Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Political Department:   Rarely has Helsinki been represented on its own in films, most notably the 1967 British-American
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
thriller ''
Billion Dollar Brain ''Billion Dollar Brain'' is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Ken Russell and based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Len Deighton. The film features Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer, the anti-hero protagonist. The "b ...
'', starring
Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...
. The city has large amounts of underground areas such as shelters and tunnels, many used daily as swimming pool, church, water management, entertainment etc.


Functionalism and modern architecture

Helsinki also features several buildings by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, recognized as one of the pioneers of architectural functionalism. However, some of his works, such as the headquarters of the paper company
Stora Enso Stora Enso Oyj (from sv, Stora and fi, Enso ) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia and S ...
and the concert venue
Finlandia Hall The Finlandia Hall is a congress and event venue in the centre of Helsinki on the Töölönlahti Bay, owned by the City of Helsinki. The building, which was designed by architect Alvar Aalto, was completed in 1971. Every detail in the building i ...
, have been subject to divided opinions from the citizens. Functionalist buildings in Helsinki by other architects include the
Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
, the
Tennis Palace Tennispalatsi ( sv, Tennispalatset; lit. ''Tennis Palace''), is an enclosed cultural and recreational center in Kamppi, Helsinki, Finland. It houses a Finnkino multiplex movie theatre, the Helsinki City Art Museum, the Museum of Cultures, and smal ...
, the Rowing Stadium, the Swimming Stadium, the
Velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...
, the Glass Palace, the
Töölö Sports Hall sv, Tölö sporthall , image = Töölön Kisahalli.jpg , caption = Töölö Sports Hall photographed from the tower of the Olympic Stadium (2004) , fullname = , former_names = Messuhalli , address ...
, and
Helsinki-Malmi Airport Helsinki-Malmi Airport ( fi, Helsinki-Malmin lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Malm flygplats) is an airfield in Helsinki, Finland, located in the district of Malmi, north-north-east of the city centre. It was opened in 1936. Until the opening of Hel ...
. The sports venues were built to serve the 1940 Helsinki Olympic Games; the games were initially cancelled due to the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but the venues fulfilled their purpose in the 1952 Olympic Games. Many of them are listed by
DoCoMoMo Docomomo International (sometimes written as DoCoMoMo or simply Docomomo) is a non-profit organization whose full title is: International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement. ...
as significant examples of modern architecture. The Olympic Stadium and
Helsinki-Malmi Airport Helsinki-Malmi Airport ( fi, Helsinki-Malmin lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Malm flygplats) is an airfield in Helsinki, Finland, located in the district of Malmi, north-north-east of the city centre. It was opened in 1936. Until the opening of Hel ...
are also catalogued by the Finnish Heritage Agency as cultural-historical environments of national significance. When Finland became heavily urbanized in the 1960s and 1970s, the district of
Pihlajamäki Pihlajamäki (Finnish language, Finnish), Rönnbacka (Swedish language, Swedish) is a northern-central Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, quarter in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is part of the Malmi, Helsinki, Malmi Subdivisions of ...
, for example, was built in Helsinki for new residents, where for the first time in Finland,
precast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast bea ...
was used on a large scale.
Pikku Huopalahti Pikku Huopalahti ( sv, Lillhoplax) is a neighbourhood in the West of Helsinki between the Ruskeasuo neighbourhood and Mannerheimintie (one of the main streets in Helsinki) in the east, the Meilahti neighborhood in the South, the Niemenmäki neigh ...
, built in the 1980s and 1990s, has tried to get rid of a one-size-fits-all grid pattern, which means that its look is very organic and its streets are not repeated in the same way.
Itäkeskus Itäkeskus ( sv, Östra centrum, literal translation ''East center'') is a '' quarter'' in the neighbourhood of Vartiokylä (as of the 1980s) in Helsinki, Finland. The district's main attraction is the largest covered-in shopping mall in the Nordi ...
in
Eastern Helsinki East Helsinki ( fi, Itä-Helsinki, sv, Östra Helsingfors) is an area in Helsinki, Finland, usually thought to comprise the city's eastern and south-eastern major districts (, ), including the districts of Vartiokylä, Myllypuro, Mellunkylä, ...
was the first regional center in the 1980s.Ilonen, Arvi: Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa – arkkitehtuuriopas. Helsinki: Otava, 2009. . Efforts have also been made to protect Helsinki in the late 20th century, and many old buildings have been renovated.
Modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...
is represented, for example, by the Museum of Contemporary Art
Kiasma ) , established = (Museum of Contemporary Art) (opening of Kiasma building) , dissolved = , location = Helsinki, Finland , type = Art museum , accreditation = , key_holdings = , co ...
, which consists of two straight and curved-walled parts, though this style strongly divided the opinions from the citizens. Next to Kiasma is the glass-walled Sanomatalo (1999). The start of the 21st century marked the beginning of highrise construction in Helsinki, when the city decided to allow the construction of skyscrapers; prior to this,
Hotel Torni Hotel Torni () is a historical hotel located in Kamppi, Helsinki, Finland, and a part of the Sokos Hotels hotel chain. When opened in 1931, it became the tallest building in Finland, a position it maintained until the completion of the new Nes ...
(), built in 1931, has generally been called Finland's first skyscraper, and was at time the tallest building in Finland until 1976. there are no skyscrapers taller than 100 meters in the Helsinki area, but there are several projects under construction or planning, mainly in
Pasila Pasila (; sv, Böle, ) is a part of Helsinki, Finland, that is both a central-northern neighbourhood and district, bordering the areas of Alppila to the south, the Central Park ( Keskuspuisto) to the west, and Vallila to the east. Pasila is ...
and
Kalasatama Kalasatama ( sv, Fiskehamnen; literally translated "fish port") is a neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. The area is officially part of the Sörnäinen district; and like Sörnäinen, Kalasatama is located a little more than one kilomet ...
. An international architecture competition for at least 10 high-rises to be built in Pasila is being held. Construction of the towers will start in 2023. In Kalasatama, the first 35-story (; called
Majakka Majakka (; ) is a high-rise building in Kalasatama, Helsinki. The tower is tall, making it the tallest building in Finland. It is divided into 35 floors, and contains 283 residences. The 5th floor has a garden open to the public. The tower is c ...
) and 32-story (; called ) residential towers are already completed. Later they will be joined by a 37-story, two 32-story, 31-story, and 27-story residential buildings. In the Kalasatama area, there will be about 15 high-rises within 10 years. Even higher skyscrapers under the name ''Trigoni'' are planned for the Central Pasila area near the
Mall of Tripla The Mall of Tripla is a shopping mall in Keski-Pasila, Helsinki, Finland. The mall, along with a rebuilt railway station, opened on 17 October 2019. With a total leasable retail area of , the mall is the fourth-largest shopping mall in Finland an ...
shopping centre; the highest of which is to become about 200 meters high, and it can be seen even in good weather all the way to the
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n coast.


Statues and sculptures

Well-known statues and monuments strongly embedded in the cityscape of Helsinki include the Keisarinnankivi ("Stone of the Empress", 1835), the statue of Russian Emperor Alexander II (1894), the fountain sculpture ''
Havis Amanda ''Havis Amanda'' is a fountain and a statue in Helsinki, Finland by the sculptor Ville Vallgren (1855–1940). The work was modelled in 1906 in Paris, and erected at its present location at the Market Square, Helsinki, Market Square in Kaarti ...
'' (1908), the
Paavo Nurmi statue The Paavo nurmi statue (also known as the Paavo Nurmi runner statue) is a whole-body sculpture of runner Paavo Nurmi, the most successful Olympic athlete in Finland, made by sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen. The bronze sculpture was made in 1925 and t ...
(1925), the '' Three Smiths Statue'' (1932), the Aleksis Kivi Memorial (1939), the Eino Leino Statue (1953), the Equestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim (1960) and the '' Sibelius Monument'' (1967).


Government

As is the case with all Finnish municipalities, Helsinki's city council is the main decision-making organ in local politics, dealing with issues such as
urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
, schools, health care, and
public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
. The council is chosen in the nationally held
municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...
, which are held every four years. Helsinki's city council consists of eighty-five members. Following the most recent municipal elections in 2017, the three largest parties are the
National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...
(25), the
Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the polit ...
(21), and the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...
(12). The Mayor of Helsinki is Juhana Vartiainen.


Demographics

At 53 percent of the population, women form a greater proportion of Helsinki residents than the national average of 51 percent. Helsinki's population density of 2,739.36 people per square kilometre makes Helsinki the most densely-populated city in Finland. The life expectancy for men and women is slightly below the national averages: 75.1 years for men as compared to 75.7 years, 81.7 years for women as compared to 82.5 years. Helsinki has experienced strong growth since the 1810s, when it replaced
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
as the capital of the
Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...
, which later became the sovereign
Republic of 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 ...
. The city continued its growth from that time on, with an exception during the
Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...
. From the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
up until the 1970s there was a massive exodus of people from the countryside to the cities of Finland, in particular Helsinki. Between 1944 and 1969 the population of the city nearly doubled from 275,000 to 525,600. In the 1960s, the population growth of Helsinki began to decrease, mainly due to a lack of housing. Some residents began to move to the neighbouring cities of Espoo and Vantaa, resulting in increased population growth in both municipalities. Espoo's population increased ninefold in sixty years, from 22,874 people in 1950 to 244,353 in 2009. Vantaa saw an even more dramatic change in the same time span: from 14,976 in 1950 to 197,663 in 2009, a thirteenfold increase. These population changes prompted the municipalities of Greater Helsinki into more intense cooperation in areas such as public transportation – resulting in the foundation of HSL – and waste management. The increasing scarcity of housing and the higher costs of living in the capital region have pushed many daily commuters to find housing in formerly rural areas, and even further, to cities such as
Lohja Lohja (; sv, Lojo) is a city and municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland. The city has a population of 47,518 (2017), and it covers an area of of which , or 8.3 percent, is water. The population density of Lohja is . The municipality is b ...
,
Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...
,
Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
, and
Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...
. In 2015, there were about 3,500
homeless people Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...
in Helsinki. About a thousand of them are foreigners.YLE: Asunnottomien määrä on vähentynyt Helsingissä
(in Finnish)
700 of the homeless are under the age of 25, which is 400 less than in 2013. According to Taru Neiman, Head of Housing Support in Helsinki, homelessness has decreased because there are more places in temporary housing units than before. In 2015, there were more than 800 places in Helsinki's housing units and the queuing times were on average one year.


Language

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
and
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 ...
are the official languages of Helsinki. 77.1% of the citizens speak
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
as their
native language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
. 5.6% speak
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 ...
. The remaining 17.3% of the population speaks a native language other than Finnish or Swedish. The fastest growing languages are Arabic and Somali. Just 64 people speak the Sami languages as their mother tongue, though 527 people are of Sami background. 93
Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary
is an umbrella term for different
speakers live in Helsinki, nearly half of Finland's total Tatar speakers. Helsinki slang is a regional dialect of the city. It combines influences mainly from Finnish and English, and has traditionally had strong
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and Swedish influences. Finnish today is the common language of communication between Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers, and speakers of other languages ( New Finns) in day-to-day affairs in the public sphere between unknown persons. Swedish is commonly spoken in city or national agencies specifically aimed at Finland-Swedish speakers, such as the Social Services Department on Hämeentie or the Luckan Cultural centre in Kamppi. Knowledge of Finnish is also essential in business and is usually a basic requirement in the employment market. Swedish speakers are most concentrated in the Southern parts of the city. The district with the most Swedish speakers is Ullanlinna/Ulrikasborg with 2,098 (19.6%), while Byholmen is the only district where the majority language is Swedish (at 82.8%). The number of Swedish speakers decreased every year until 2008, and since then their numbers has increased every year. Since 2007, the amount of Swedish speakers has increased by 2,351. Knowledge of Finnish is also essential in business and is usually a basic requirement in the employment market. Finnish speakers surpassed Swedish speakers in 1890 to become the majority of the city's population. At the time, the population of Helsinki was 61,530.


Immigration

As the crossroads of many international ports and Finland's largest airport, Helsinki is the global gateway to and from Finland. The city has Finland's largest
immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
population in both absolute and relative terms. There are over 140 nationalities represented in Helsinki. It is home to the world's largest Estonian community outside of
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
. The number of Estonian immigrants has decreased every year since 2015, from 12,970 to 11,639 in 2021. Somali immigrants overtook Estonians as Helsinki's second largest immigrant group in 2020.Statistics Finland Around 1,000 Sami people live in Helsinki. Foreign citizens make up 10.3% of the population, while the total immigrant population makes up 17.6%. The number of people with a foreign mother tongue is expected to be 196,500 in 2035, or 26% of the population. 114,000 will speak non-European languages, which will be 15% of the population.


Religion

The
Temppeliaukio Church Temppeliaukio Church ( fi, Temppeliaukion kirkko, sv, Tempelplatsens kyrka) is a Lutheranism, Lutheran church (building), church in the Töölö neighborhood of Helsinki. The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo Suomalainen, Timo a ...
is a
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
church in the
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 Helsink ...
neighborhood of the city. The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and
Tuomo Suomalainen Tuomo Oskari Suomalainen (born 29 November 1931 in Gogland, Finland died 1 November 1988) was a Finnish architect. He worked very closely with his brother Timo Suomalainen who also was an architect. Most of the works they designed jointly. Thei ...
and opened in 1969. Built directly into solid rock, it is also known as the Church of the Rock and Rock Church. The Cathedral of the
Diocese of Helsinki The Diocese of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin hiippakunta; sv, Helsingfors stift) is a diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and the seat of the Bishop of Helsinki. Its cathedral is Helsinki Cathedral. The diocese was established in ...
is the Helsinki Cathedral, completed in 1852. It is a major landmark in the city and has 1,300 seats. There are 21 Lutheran congregations in Helsinki, 18 of which are Finnish-speaking and 3 are Swedish-speaking. These form Helsinki's congregationgroup. Outside that there is Finland's German congregation with 3,000 members and Rikssvenska Olaus Petri-församlingen for Swedish-citizens with 1,000 members. The largest
Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
congregation is the Orthodox Church of Helsinki. It has 20,000 members. Its main church is the
Uspenski Cathedral russian: Успенский собор sv, Uspenskijkatedralen , native_name_lang = , image = File:Catedral Uspenski, Helsinki, Finlandia, 2012-08-14, DD 03.JPG , coordinates = , location = Helsi ...
. The two largest
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
congregations are the
Cathedral of Saint Henry St. Henry's Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, dedicated to Bishop Henrik, a 12th-century Roman Catholic Bishop of Turku, Finland. It is the Cathedral Church of the Catholic Diocese of Helsinki. In terms of membership, ...
, with 4,552 members, established in 1860 and St Mary's Catholic Parish, with 4,107 members, established in 1954. At the end of 2021, 49.1% of the population were affiliated to the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; sv, Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal positio ...
. Helsinki is the least Lutheran municipality in Finland.


Other religions

There are around 30 mosques in the Helsinki region. Many linguistic and ethnic groups such as
Bangladeshis Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...
, Kosovars,
Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...
and
Bosniaks The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...
have established their own mosques. The largest congregation in both Helsinki and Finland is the , established in 1995. It has over 2,800 members , and it received €24,131 in government assistance. In 2015, imam estimated that on big celebrations around 10,000 Muslims visit mosques. In 2004, it was estimated that there were 8,000 Muslims in Helsinki, 1.5% of the population at the time. The number of people in Helsinki with a background from Muslim majority countries was nearly 41,000 as of 2021, representing over 6% of the population. The main synagogue of Helsinki is the
Helsinki Synagogue Helsinki Synagogue (''Helsingin synagoga'' in Finnish, ''Helsingfors synagoga'' in Swedish) in the city of Helsinki (Helsingfors) is one of the two synagogues in Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of F ...
from 1906, located in Kamppi. It has over 1,200 members, out of the 1,800
Jews in Finland The history of the Jews in Finland goes back to the 1700s. Finnish Jews are Jews who are citizens of Finland. The country is home to some 1,800 Jews, of which 1,400 live in the Greater Helsinki area and 200 in Turku. Most Jews in Finland have F ...
, and it is the older of the two buildings in Finland originally built as a synagogue, followed by the
Turku Synagogue Turku Synagogue ( fi, Turun synagoga, sv, Åbo synagoga) in the city of Turku is one of the two synagogues in Finland. Located in the VII District, the synagogue is used by the Jewish community of Turku. The synagogue building, designed by arch ...
in 1912. The congregation includes a synagogue, Jewish kindergarten, school, library, Jewish meat shop, two Jewish cemeteries and an retirement home. Many Jewish organizations and societies are based there, and the synagogue publishes the main Jewish magazine in Finland, '.


Economy

Greater Helsinki generates approximately one third of Finland's GDP. GDP per capita is roughly 1.3 times the national average. Helsinki profits on serviced-related IT and public sectors. Having moved from heavy industrial works, shipping companies also employ a substantial number of people. The metropolitan area's gross value added per capita is 200% of the mean of 27 European metropolitan areas, equalling those of Stockholm and Paris. The gross value added annual growth has been around 4%. 83 of the 100 largest Finnish companies have their headquarters in Greater Helsinki. Two-thirds of the 200 highest-paid Finnish executives live in Greater Helsinki and 42% in Helsinki. The average income of the top 50 earners was 1.65 million euro. The tap water is of excellent quality and it is supplied by the
Päijänne Water Tunnel The Päijänne Water Tunnel (, ) is a water tunnel located in Southern Finland. At , it is the second-longest tunnel in the world, running at a depth of in the bedrock. The purpose of the tunnel is to provide fresh water for the over one mi ...
, one of the world's longest continuous rock tunnels.


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. There are two major research universities in Helsinki, the
University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...
and
Aalto University Aalto University ( fi, Aalto-yliopisto; sv, Aalto-universitetet) is a public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the ...
, and a number of other higher level institutions and polytechnics which focus on higher-level professional education.


Research universities

*
University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...
*
Aalto University Aalto University ( fi, Aalto-yliopisto; sv, Aalto-universitetet) is a public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the ...
(
Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...
)


Other institutions of higher education

*
Hanken School of Economics Hanken School of Economics (Swedish: ''Svenska handelshögskolan,'' also known as Hanken) is a business school in Finland with two locations, Helsinki and Vaasa. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest business school in Finland, and one of the oldest ...
*
University of the Arts Helsinki The University of the Arts Helsinki ( fi, Taideyliopisto, sv, Konstuniversitetet), also known as Uniarts Helsinki, is a Finnish arts university that was launched in the beginning of 2013. Apart from a few exceptions, it is the only university i ...
* National Defence University *
Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences ( fi, Haaga-Helia ammattikorkeakoulu, sv, Haaga-Helia yrkeshögskola) is one of Finland's largest universities of applied sciences (" ammattikorkeakoulu" in Finnish). The institution is fully supervi ...
* Laurea University of Applied Sciences * Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences * Arcada University of Applied Sciences *
Diaconia University of Applied Sciences Diaconia University of Applied Sciences ( fi, Diakonia-ammattikorkeakoulu, Diak) is a university of applied sciences (a polytechnic) in Finland. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Its campuses are located in Helsinki ...
*
HUMAK University of Applied Sciences Humak University of Applied Sciences ( fi, Humanistinen ammattikorkeakoulu, i.e. "Humanist"; HUMAK) is a university of applied sciences (a polytechnic) in Finland. Humak is a leading educator in the humanities, pedagogy, and cultural management in ...
Helsinki is one of the co-location centres of the Knowledge and Innovation Community (Future information and communication society) of The
European Institute of Innovation and Technology The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is an independent body of the European Union with juridical personality, established in 2008 intended to strengthen Europe's ability to innovate. The EIT is an integral part of Horizon ...
(EIT).


Culture


Museums

The biggest historical museum in Helsinki is the
National Museum of Finland The National Museum of Finland ( fi, Kansallismuseo, sv, Nationalmuseum) presents Finnish history from the Stone Age to the present day, through objects and cultural history. The Finnish National Romantic style building is located in central He ...
, which displays a vast collection from prehistoric times to the 21st century. The museum building itself, a national romantic-style neomedieval castle, is a tourist attraction. Another major historical museum is the
Helsinki City Museum Helsinki City Museum ( fi, Helsingin kaupunginmuseo, sv, Helsingfors stadsmuseum) is a museum in Helsinki that documents and displays the history of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Its mission is to record and uphold Helsinki's spiritual, mate ...
, which introduces visitors to Helsinki's 500-year history. The
University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...
also has many significant museums, including the
Helsinki University Museum Helsinki University Museum is the museum of the University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 182 ...
"Arppeanum" and the
Finnish Museum of Natural History The Finnish Museum of Natural History ( fi, Luonnontieteellinen keskusmuseo, sv, Naturhistoriska centralmuseet), established in 1988, is a research institution under the University of Helsinki in Finland, based in Helsinki, Finland. It is a natur ...
. The
Finnish National Gallery Finnish National Gallery ( fi, Suomen Kansallisgalleria, sv, Finlands Nationalgalleri) is the largest art museum institution of Finland. It consists of the Ateneum, an art museum; Kiasma, a contemporary art museum; and the Sinebrychoff Art Muse ...
consists of three museums: Ateneum Art Museum for classical Finnish art,
Sinebrychoff Art Museum The Sinebrychoff Art Museum is an art museum located on Bulevardi in Helsinki, Finland. The museum exhibits the old European art collections (dating between the 14th and 19th centuries) of the Finnish National Gallery. In addition, half of the mu ...
for classical European art, and Kiasma Art Museum for modern art, in a building by architect Steven Holl. The old Ateneum, a neo-Renaissance palace from the 19th century, is one of the city's major historical buildings. All three museum buildings are state-owned through
Senate Properties sv, Senatfastigheter , logo = Senate logo.gif , type = Liikelaitos Senate Properties 2009(Finnish). (≈ unincorporated entity, unincorporated state-owned enterprise) Ministry of Finance 2009. Senate Properties 2009/ref ...
. The city of Helsinki hosts its own art collection in the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), primarily located in its
Tennispalatsi Tennispalatsi ( sv, Tennispalatset; lit. ''Tennis Palace''), is an enclosed cultural and recreational center in Kamppi, Helsinki, Finland. It houses a Finnkino multiplex movie theatre, the Helsinki City Art Museum, the Museum of Cultures, and sm ...
gallery. Around 200 pieces of public art lie outside. The art is all city property. Helsinki Art Museum will in 2020 launch the Helsinki Biennial, which will bring art to maritime Helsinki – in its first year to the island of Vallisaari. The Design Museum is devoted to the exhibition of both Finnish and foreign design, including industrial design, fashion, and graphic design. Other museums in Helsinki include the
Military Museum of Finland The Military Museum of Finland ( fi, Sotamuseo) is the central museum of the Finnish Defence Forces and the national special museum of military history. It is located in Helsinki and it is part of the Finnish National Defence University. In 2018, ...
,
Didrichsen Art Museum Didrichsen Art Museum ( fi, Didrichsenin taidemuseo, sv, Didrichsens konstmuseum) is an art museum in Helsinki, Finland. History The art museum was founded by Marie-Louise and Gunnar Didrichsen, who asked Finnish architect Viljo Revell to build ...
, Amos Rex Art Museum, and the . File:Sinebrychoff Art Museum building 2014.jpg,
Sinebrychoff Art Museum The Sinebrychoff Art Museum is an art museum located on Bulevardi in Helsinki, Finland. The museum exhibits the old European art collections (dating between the 14th and 19th centuries) of the Finnish National Gallery. In addition, half of the mu ...
(1842) File:Arppeanum - DSC05409.JPG,
Helsinki University Museum Helsinki University Museum is the museum of the University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 182 ...
"Arppeanum" (1869) File:Cygnauksen galleria.jpg, The Cygnaeus Gallery Museum (1870) File:Mannerheim Museum.jpg, The
Mannerheim Museum The Mannerheim Museum is located in Helsinki, Finland. It is dedicated to preserving and displaying items related to the life and times of Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim, a Finnish statesman and military officer. The Mannerheim Museum is located o ...
(1874; 1957 as museum) File:Sotakorkeakoulu.jpg, The
Military Museum of Finland The Military Museum of Finland ( fi, Sotamuseo) is the central museum of the Finnish Defence Forces and the national special museum of military history. It is located in Helsinki and it is part of the Finnish National Defence University. In 2018, ...
(1881) File:Helsinki July 2013-26a.jpg, Classical art museum
Ateneum Ateneum is an art museum in Helsinki, Finland and one of the three museums forming the Finnish National Gallery. It is located in the centre of Helsinki on the south side of Rautatientori square close to Helsinki Central railway station. It ha ...
(1887) File:Designmuseo 2020.jpg, The Design Museum (1894) File:Tram museum in Helsinki-7152.jpg, (''Ratikkamuseo'') (1900) File: Kansallismuseo Helsinki.jpg, The
National Museum of Finland The National Museum of Finland ( fi, Kansallismuseo, sv, Nationalmuseum) presents Finnish history from the Stone Age to the present day, through objects and cultural history. The Finnish National Romantic style building is located in central He ...
(1910) File:10 Helsinki City Museum main building.jpg, The
Helsinki City Museum Helsinki City Museum ( fi, Helsingin kaupunginmuseo, sv, Helsingfors stadsmuseum) is a museum in Helsinki that documents and displays the history of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Its mission is to record and uphold Helsinki's spiritual, mate ...
(1911) File:Luonnontieteellinen museo 2020.jpg, The
Finnish Museum of Natural History The Finnish Museum of Natural History ( fi, Luonnontieteellinen keskusmuseo, sv, Naturhistoriska centralmuseet), established in 1988, is a research institution under the University of Helsinki in Finland, based in Helsinki, Finland. It is a natur ...
(1913) File:Taidehalli Helsinki.jpg,
Kunsthalle Helsinki Kunsthalle Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin Taidehalli, sv, Helsingfors Konsthall) is a non-profit exhibition space founded by various Finnish artist and art associations in 1928. Presenting annually 5–7 major exhibitions and special events, the main fo ...
art venue (1928) File:Didrichsenin taidemuseo.jpg,
Didrichsen Art Museum Didrichsen Art Museum ( fi, Didrichsenin taidemuseo, sv, Didrichsens konstmuseum) is an art museum in Helsinki, Finland. History The art museum was founded by Marie-Louise and Gunnar Didrichsen, who asked Finnish architect Viljo Revell to build ...
(1964) File:Helsinki Art Museum entrance 01.JPG, Helsinki Art Museum (1968) File:Helsinki Kiasma.jpg,
Kiasma ) , established = (Museum of Contemporary Art) (opening of Kiasma building) , dissolved = , location = Helsinki, Finland , type = Art museum , accreditation = , key_holdings = , co ...
museum of contemporary art (1998) File:Lasipalatsi - Amos Rex 20180821 152604.jpg,
Amos Rex Amos Rex is an art museum named after publisher and arts patron Amos Anderson located in Lasipalatsi, Mannerheimintie, Helsinki, Finland. It opened in 2018 and rapidly reached international popularity, attracting more than 10,000 visitors in a ma ...
art museum (2018)


Theatres

Helsinki has three major theatres: The
Finnish National Theatre The Finnish National Theatre ( fi, Suomen Kansallisteatteri), established in 1872, is a theatre located in central Helsinki on the northern side of the Helsinki Central Railway Station Square. The Finnish National Theatre is the oldest Finnish ...
, the
Helsinki City Theatre The Helsinki City Theatre ( fi, Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri; sv, Helsingfors stadsteater) is a theatre located in Helsinki, Finland. Owned by the Helsinki Theatre Foundation, it calls itself a "modern popular bilingual repertoire theatre." The ...
, and the
Swedish Theatre The Swedish Theatre ( sv, Svenska Teatern) is a Swedish-language theatre in Helsinki, Finland, and is located at the Erottaja ( sv, Skillnaden) square, at the end of Esplanadi ( sv, Esplanaden). It was the first national stage of Finland. Hi ...
(''Svenska Teatern''). Other notable theatres in the city include the
Alexander Theatre The Alexander Theatre ( fi, Aleksanterin teatteri, sv, Alexandersteatern) is a Finnish theatre in the city of Helsinki at Bulevardi 23–27, also known as Russian Theatre. History In the summer of 1875, then Governor-General of Russian Finland ...
, ', , , and '.


Music

Helsinki is home to two full-size symphony orchestras, the
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (in Finnish: ; in Swedish: ; literal English translation: Helsinki City Orchestra; commonly abbreviated as HPO) is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, the Philharmonic ...
and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both of which perform at the Helsinki Music Centre concert hall. Acclaimed contemporary composers
Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inte ...
,
Magnus Lindberg Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg (born 27 June 1958) is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was the New York Philharmonic's composer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 and has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra's composer-in-residence since the beg ...
,
Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...
, and
Einojuhani Rautavaara Einojuhani Rautavaara (; 9 October 1928 – 27 July 2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara wrote a great number of works spanning various styles. ...
, among others, were born and raised in Helsinki, and studied at the
Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It al ...
. The
Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera and Ballet ( fi, Suomen Kansallisooppera ja -baletti; sv, Finlands Nationalopera och -balett) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the T ...
, the only full-time, professional opera company in Finland, is located in Helsinki. The opera singer
Martti Wallén Martti Wallén (born 20 November 1948) is a Finnish operatic bass singer. Born in Helsinki, he sang both internationally and in his native country where he was a visiting soloist at the Finnish National Opera for many years. He created the role of ...
, one of the company's long-time soloists, was born and raised in Helsinki, as was mezzo-soprano
Monica Groop Gerd Monica Groop née Riska (born 14 April 1958 in Helsinki) is a Finnish operatic mezzo-soprano. After graduating from the Sibelius Academy, she joined the Finnish National Opera in 1986 where she remains a member. She has sung leading roles a ...
. Many widely renowned and acclaimed bands have originated in Helsinki, including Nightwish,
Children of Bodom Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of Alexi Laiho (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Sepp ...
,
Hanoi Rocks Hanoi Rocks was a Finnish rock band formed in 1979. They were the first Finnish band to chart in the UK and they were also popular in Japan. The band broke up in June 1985 after drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley died in a drunk driving accide ...
, HIM,
Stratovarius Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band that formed in 1985. Since their formation, they have released sixteen studio albums, five DVDs and six live albums. In its history, the band has gone through many chaotic lineup changes, and after fo ...
,
The 69 Eyes The 69 Eyes are a Finnish rock band. It was founded in 1989 in Helsinki by vocalist Jyrki 69 (who also writes the band's lyrics), guitarists Bazie, Timo-Timo and bassist Archzie, joined in 1992 by drummer Jussi 69; the lineup never changed sin ...
,
Finntroll Finntroll is a Finnish metal band from Helsinki that combines elements of black metal and folk metal. Finntroll's lyrics are mostly in Swedish, the only exception being the song "Madon Laulu" on ''Visor om slutet''. Finntroll's original singer, ...
, Ensiferum,
Wintersun Wintersun is a Finnish heavy metal band from Helsinki originally formed as the side project of Jari Mäenpää, then-vocalist and guitarist of folk metal band Ensiferum. In 2003, Mäenpää began pulling together songs that he had been wo ...
,
The Rasmus The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinone ...
,
Poets of the Fall Poets of the Fall (POTF) is a Finnish rock band from Helsinki. The group consists of Marko Saaresto (lead vocals), Olli Tukiainen (lead guitar), Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen (keyboards, production), Jani Snellman (bass), Jaska Mäkinen (rhythm ...
, and
Apocalyptica Apocalyptica is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Helsinki, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso, and jazz drummer Mikko Sirén. Originally a classical- ...
. The most significant of the
metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...
events in Helsinki is the
Tuska Open Air Metal Festival Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, commonly shortened to Tuska ( fi, pain, agony), is a Finnish heavy metal festival taking place annually in Helsinki. The first Tuska took place in 1998 and the festival has since grown larger every year. The locati ...
in
Suvilahti Suvilahti ( sv, Södervik) is a cultural center and former energy production area in Sörnäinen, Helsinki. It encompasses nine buildings and two large gasometers. Construction of a steam turbine electrical power plant was completed in 1909 and ...
,
Sörnäinen Sörnäinen ( sv, Sörnäs; ''Sörkkä'' or ''Sörkka'' in Helsinki slang) is a neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. Sörnäinen is located a little more than one kilometre north from the coastal centre of Helsinki, near the district ...
. The city's main musical venues are the
Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera and Ballet ( fi, Suomen Kansallisooppera ja -baletti; sv, Finlands Nationalopera och -balett) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the T ...
, the Finlandia concert hall, and the Helsinki Music Centre. The Music Centre also houses a part of the
Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It al ...
. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: the
Helsinki Halli Helsinki Halli (formerly Hartwall Arena) is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice hockey games is 13,34 ...
or the
Helsinki Ice Hall Helsinki Ice Hall ( fi, Helsingin jäähalli, sv, Helsingfors ishall) is an indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. The arena has a seating capacity of 8,200. History Helsinki Ice Hall has been the home arena of HIFK of Liiga since its cons ...
. Helsinki has Finland's largest fairgrounds, the
Messukeskus Helsinki Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre (formerly Helsinki Fair Centre) is the biggest and best-known convention center in Finland. It is located in the capital city of Helsinki, in the district of Pasila, a short walk northwards from th ...
, which is attended by more than a million visitors a year.
Helsinki Arena Helsinki Halli (formerly Hartwall Arena) is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice hockey games is 13,34 ...
hosted the
Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...
, the first
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
arranged in Finland, following
Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish hard rock/ heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster ma ...
's win in
2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
.


Art

The
Helsinki Day Helsinki Day () is an annual celebration in Finland, held on 12 June, to celebrate the city of Helsinki. The number of attendees in the events on the day exceeds one hundred thousand. On the day, the Helsinki Medal is awarded to noteworthy citize ...
(''Helsinki-päivä'') will be celebrated on every 12 June, with numerous entertainment events culminating in an
open-air concert A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or hol ...
. Also, the
Helsinki Festival The Helsinki Festival (in Finnish: Helsingin juhlaviikot, in Swedish: Helsingfors festspel) is the largest multi-arts festival in Finland. It is Finland's biggest cultural event in terms of visitors. In 2015, around 295,000 people visited the Helsin ...
is an annual arts and culture festival, which takes place every August (including the Night of the Arts). At the Senate Square in fall 2010, Finland's largest open-air art exhibition to date took place: About 1.4 million people saw the international exhibition of ''
United Buddy Bears ''Buddy Bears'' are painted, life-size fiberglass bear sculptures developed by German businesspeople Klaus and Eva Herlitz, in cooperation with sculptor Roman Strobl. They have become a landmark of Berlin and are considered unofficial ambassa ...
''. Helsinki was the 2012
World Design Capital The World Design Capital (WDC) is a city promotion project by the World Design Organization (formerly named the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design )to recognize and award accomplishments made by cities around the world in the f ...
, in recognition of the use of design as an effective tool for social, cultural, and economic development in the city. In choosing Helsinki, the World Design Capital selection jury highlighted Helsinki's use of 'Embedded Design', which has tied design in the city to innovation, "creating global brands, such as
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
,
Kone Kone Oyj (; officially stylized as KONE and trading as KONE Corporation) is an elevator engineering company employing over 60,000 personnel across 60 countries worldwide. It was founded in 1910 and is now headquartered in Espoo near Helsinki, F ...
, and
Marimekko Marimekko Oyj is a Finnish textiles, clothing, and home furnishings company founded by Viljo and Armi Ratia in Helsinki in 1951. Marimekko made important contributions to fashion in the 1960s. It is particularly noted for its brightly colored pri ...
, popular events, like the annual , outstanding education and research institutions, such as the
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture Aalto is a Finnish surname meaning "wave". Notable people with the surname include: * Aino Aalto (1894–1949), Finnish architect and designer * Alec Aalto (1942–2018), Finnish diplomat * Alvar Aalto (1898–1976), Finnish architect and design ...
, and exemplary architects and designers such as
Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish-American architect known for his work with art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Eero Saarinen. Lif ...
and Alvar Aalto". Helsinki hosts many film festivals. Most of them are small venues, while some have generated interest internationally. The most prolific of these is the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy film festival, also known as Helsinki International Film Festival, which features films on a wide spectrum.
Night Visions ''Night Visions'' is the debut studio album by American pop rock band Imagine Dragons. It was released on September 4, 2012, through Kidinakorner and Interscope Records. The album was primarily produced by the band themselves, as well as Eng ...
, on the other hand, focuses on genre cinema, screening horror,
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
, and
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
films in very popular movie marathons that last the entire night. Another popular film festival is , a festival that focuses solely on documentary cinema.


Media

Today, there are around 200 newspapers, 320 popular magazines, 2,100 professional magazines, 67 commercial radio stations, three
digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting syst ...
channels, and one nationwide and five national public service radio channels.
Sanoma Sanoma Corporation (, formerly SanomaWSOY) is Finland's largest media group. The company has media business in Finland and a learning business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Spain, among others. The company is headquarte ...
publishes Finland's
journal of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the o ...
, ''
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 ...
'', the tabloid '' Ilta-Sanomat'', the commerce-oriented ''
Taloussanomat ''Taloussanomat'' is the largest business online daily newspaper in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''Taloussanomat'' was first published on 18 November 1997. The final printed number (the 2537th) was published on 28 December 2007 when it ...
'', and the television channel
Nelonen Nelonen () is a Finnish commercial television channel. It started out as Helsinki's local television channel PTV in 1990 on the HTV cable network (now part of DNA Welho), and changed its name first to PTV4. On June 1, 1997, the channel expand ...
. Another Helsinki-based media house,
Alma Media Alma Media Oyj is a Finnish media and digital service business company. Its best known products are ''Iltalehti'', ''Kauppalehti'', ''Talouselämä'', and . In addition to news services, the company's products provide information related to li ...
, publishes over thirty magazines, including the tabloid '' Iltalehti'', and the commerce-oriented ''
Kauppalehti ''Kauppalehti'' (Finnish: "Trade Newspaper") is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. The paper has been in circulation since 1898. History and profile ''Kauppalehti'' was established by the Finnish Businessmen's Associat ...
''. Finland's national public-broadcasting institution
Yle Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, found ...
operates five television channels and thirteen radio channels in both national languages. Yle is headquartered in the neighbourhood of
Pasila Pasila (; sv, Böle, ) is a part of Helsinki, Finland, that is both a central-northern neighbourhood and district, bordering the areas of Alppila to the south, the Central Park ( Keskuspuisto) to the west, and Vallila to the east. Pasila is ...
. All TV channels are broadcast digitally, both terrestrially and on cable. Yle's studio area houses the high television and radio tower, Yle Transmission Tower (''Pasilan linkkitorni''), which is the third tallest structure in Helsinki and one of Helsinki's most famous landmarks, from the top of which, in good weather, can be seen even as far as
Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
over the Gulf of Finland. The commercial television channel
MTV3 MTV3 ( fi, MTV Kolme, sv, MTV Tre) is a Finnish commercial television station. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Yle TV1 (from Yle) took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV (literally "Advertisemen ...
and commercial radio channel Radio Nova are owned by
Nordic Broadcasting TV4 AB (formerly Nordisk Television AB; previously traded as ) is a Swedish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Sweden, ...
( Bonnier and
Proventus Proventus is a privately held Swedish investment company founded in 1980 by Robert Weil. It was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange from 1982 until 1995. Proventus currently holds shares in companies such as BRIO AB, Helsinki was already known in the 18th century for its abundant number of
inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...
s and
pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
s, where both locals and those who landed in the harbor were offered plenty of
alcoholic beverages An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...
. At that time, taxes on the sale of alcohol were a very significant source of income for Helsinki, and one of the most important sellers of alcohol was (1722–1805), a trade councilor who attracted rural
merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
s with alcohol and made good deals. Gradually, a new kind of beverage culture began to grow in the next century, and as early as 1852, the first
café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...
of Finland, , was established by confectioner (1825–1891) after attending his studies in
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Ekberg has also been said to have created Finland's "national
pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" sugges ...
tradition". At first, café culture was only a prerogative of sophisticated elite, when it recently began to take shape as the right of every man. Today, there are several hundred cafés in Helsinki, the most notable of which is
Cafe Regatta Cafe Regatta is a café in Taka-Töölö, Helsinki, Finland. The café building is a small red log cabin that has been located in the same place on the Merikannontie street, on the shores of the Taivallahti bay, for 135 years. There are several a ...
, which is very popular with foreign tourists. As an important
port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
on the Baltic Sea, Helsinki has long been known for its
fish food Aquarium fish feed is plant or animal material intended for consumption by pet fish kept in aquariums or ponds. Fish foods normally contain macronutrients, trace elements and vitamins necessary to keep captive fish in good health. Approximatel ...
, and it has recently started to become one of the leading fish food capitals in
Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
. Helsinki's Market Square is especially known for its traditional herring market, which has been organized since 1743.
Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
is also a typical Helsinki fish dish, both fried and souped. The most prestigious restaurants specializing in
seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...
include Restaurant Fisken på Disken. Helsinki is currently experiencing a period of booming
food culture The sociology of food is the study of food as it relates to the history, progression, and future development of society, encompassing its production, preparation, consumption, and distribution, its medical, ritual, spiritual, ethical and cultura ...
, and it has developed into an internationally acclaimed food city, receiving recognition for promoting food culture. The local food culture is made up of cuisines from around the world and the fusions they form. Various Asian restaurants such as
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
,
Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...
,
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
and Nepalese are particularly prominent in Helsinki's cityscape, but over the past couple of years, restaurants serving
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
food have been very popular.
Sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is "sushi rice," also ...
restaurant buffets have also made their way into the city's restaurant offerings in one fell swoop. The third prominent trend is restaurants serving pure local food, many of which specialize primarily in serving pure Nordic flavors. Also, the Russian cuisine is still relatively strong in these days, one of which is the salty ''
blini A blini (sometimes spelled bliny) ( pl., diminutive: блинчики, ''blinchiki'', dialectal, diminutive: млинчики, ''mlynchiki'') or, sometimes, blin (more accurate as a single form of the noun), is a Russian and more broadly Eastern ...
s'', a thick Russian pancakes fried in a cast iron pan. One of the most significant food culture venues in Helsinki is the general public area known as Teurastamo in the Hermanni district, which operated as the city's slaughterhouse between 1933 and 1992, to which the name of the place also refers. A nationwide food carnival called Restaurant Day (''Ravintolapäivä'') has begun in Helsinki and has traditionally been celebrated since May 2011. The purpose of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and enjoy the common environment with the group.


Other

Vappu Walpurgis Night (), an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German ), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve (alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve), is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess i ...
is an annual carnival for students and workers on 1 May. The last week of June marks the
Helsinki Pride Helsinki Pride is an LGBT pride event in Helsinki, Finland. The event takes place during the last week of June. The event lasts all week and is usually held the week after midsummer. On Monday, the program opens, and during the week there are ...
human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
event, which was attended by 100,000 marchers in 2018.


Sports

Helsinki has a long tradition of sports: the city gained much of its initial international recognition during the
1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...
, and the city has arranged sporting events such as the first
World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...
1983 and 2005, and the European Championships in Athletics 1971, 1994, and 2012. Helsinki hosts successful local teams in both of the most popular team sports in Finland:
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
. Helsinki houses
HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history i ...
, Finland's largest and most successful football club, and IFK Helsingfors, their local rivals with 7 championship titles. The fixtures between the two are commonly known as Stadin derby. Helsinki's track and field club Helsingin Kisa-Veikot is also dominant within Finland. Ice hockey is popular among many Helsinki residents, who usually support either of the local clubs IFK Helsingfors (HIFK) or
Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its h ...
. HIFK, with 14 Finnish championships titles, also plays in the highest
bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...
division, along with Botnia-69. The Olympic stadium hosted the first ever
Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the W ...
in 1957. Helsinki was elected host-city of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but due to World War II they were canceled. Instead Helsinki was the host of the 1952 Summer Olympics. The Olympics were a landmark event symbolically and economically for Helsinki and Finland as a whole that was recovering from the winter war and the continuation war fought with the Soviet Union. Helsinki was also in 1983 the first ever city to host the World Championships in Athletics. Helsinki also hosted the event in 2005, thus also becoming the first city to ever host the Championships for a second time. The Helsinki City Marathon has been held in the city every year since 1981, usually in August. A
Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...
race through the city streets was held on 25 May 1997. In 2009 Helsinki was host of the
European Figure Skating Championships The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European champion. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, an ...
, and in 2017 it hosted
World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. ...
. The city will host the 2021
FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup The FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (formerly FIBA Under-19 World Championship) is the under-19 men's world basketball championship organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). From its inauguration in 1979, until 2007, it was ...
. Most of Helsinki's sports venues are under the responsibility of the city's sports office, such as 70
sports hall The following is a list of indoor arenas. Africa Asia Europe North America Canada United States Oceania South America See also *Arena *Stadium *Sport venue *Lists of stadiums The following are lists of stadiums t ...
s and about 350
sports field A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For most sports t ...
s. There are nine
ice rinks An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...
, three of which are managed by the Helsinki Sports Agency (''Helsingin liikuntavirasto''). In winter, there are seven artificial ice rinks. People can swim in Helsinki in 14
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
s, the largest of which is the , two inland swimming pools and more than 20
beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
es, of which Hietaniemi Beach is probably the most famous.


Transport


Roads

The backbone of Helsinki's motorway network consists of three
semicircular In mathematics (and more specifically geometry), a semicircle is a one-dimensional locus of points that forms half of a circle. The full arc of a semicircle always measures 180° (equivalently, radians, or a half-turn). It has only one line of ...
beltways,
Ring I Ring I (pronounced "ring one", fi, Kehä I, sv, Ring I) is the busiest road in Finland, carrying up to 113,000 vehicles per day. It is the innermost of the three beltways in the Greater Helsinki region, numbered as regional route 101 and ru ...
,
Ring II Ring II (pronounced "ring two", fi, Kehä II, sv, Ring II; also known as ''Kilonväylä''
, and
Ring III Kehä III (''"ring three"'', ''National road 50''; or fi, Kehä III or ; or ) is an important highway in Southern Finland. It is the outermost of the three beltways in the Helsinki region, and the first one to be built. It lies across the fou ...
, which connect expressways heading to other parts of Finland, and the western and eastern arteries of ''
Länsiväylä Länsiväylä (the Western Highway, Swedish: Västerleden) is a motorway in the Greater Helsinki area of Finland, mainly at the Helsinki conurbation. It is part of the Finnish national road 51. The road begins in Ruoholahti in western Helsinki ...
'' and ''
Itäväylä Itäväylä (the Eastern Highway, Swedish: Österleden) is a motorway-like road in the Greater Helsinki area of Finland, mainly in the Helsinki conurbation. It is part of the Finnish regional road 170 ( fi, Seututie 170, sv, Regionalväg 170). T ...
'' respectively. While variants of a ''Keskustatunneli'' tunnel under the city centre have been repeatedly proposed, the plan remains on the drawing board. Many important Finnish highways leave Helsinki for various parts of Finland; most of them in the form of
motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
s, but a few of these exceptions include ''
Vihdintie Finnish regional road 120 ( fi, Seututie 120, sv, Regionalväg 120), or Vihti Road ( fi, Vihdintie, sv, Vichtisvägen), is a regional road from Haaga in Helsinki to Maikkala in Vihti. The road is part of the former Pori Highway. Regional road 1 ...
''. The most significant highways are: *
Finnish national road 1 The Finnish national road 1 ( fi, Valtatie 1 or fi, Ykköstie; sv, Riksväg 1) is the main route between the major cities of Helsinki and Turku in southern Finland. It runs from Munkkiniemi in Helsinki to the VI District of Turku, and is par ...
/ E18 (to
Lohja Lohja (; sv, Lojo) is a city and municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland. The city has a population of 47,518 (2017), and it covers an area of of which , or 8.3 percent, is water. The population density of Lohja is . The municipality is b ...
,
Salo Salo or Salò may refer to: Places Finland *Salo, Finland, a town in Western Finland ** Salo sub-region, a subdivision of Finland Proper and one of the Sub-regions of Finland since 2009 *An old name of Saloinen, a former municipality in Ostrobot ...
and
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
) *
Finnish national road 3 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 H ...
/ E12 (to
Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...
,
Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...
and
Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),
) *
Finnish national road 4 , 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 = Hels ...
/ E75 (to
Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
,
Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...
, Oulu and
Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per ...
) *
Finnish national road 7 Finnish national road 7 ( fi, Valtatie 7; sv, Riksväg 7) is a highway in Finland. It runs from Erottaja in Helsinki to the Russian frontier at the Vaalimaa border crossing point in Virolahti. The road is long. The road is also European route ...
/ E18 (to
Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...
and
Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also a diverse school and cultural city, which was formerly part of the old Kymi parish ...
). Helsinki has some 390 cars per 1000 inhabitants. This is less than in cities of similar population and construction density, such as Brussels' 483 per 1000, Stockholm's 401, and Oslo's 413.


Intercity rail

Helsinki Central Railway Station Helsinki Central Station ( fi, Helsingin päärautatieasema, sv, Helsingfors centralstation) ( HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 peo ...
is the main terminus of the rail network in Finland. Two rail corridors lead out of Helsinki, the Main Line to the north (to
Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...
, Oulu,
Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per ...
), and the Coastal Line to the west (to
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
). The
Main Line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
(''päärata''), which is the first railway line in Finland, was officially opened on 17 March 1862, between cities of Helsinki and
Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...
. The railway connection to the east branches from the Main Line outside of Helsinki at Kerava, and leads via
Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
to eastern parts of Finland and to Russia. A majority of intercity passenger services in Finland originate or terminate at the Helsinki Central Railway Station. All major cities in Finland are connected to Helsinki by rail service, with departures several times a day. The most frequent service is to Tampere, with more than 25 intercity departures per day . There are international services from Helsinki to Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The Saint Petersburg to Helsinki route is operated by Allegro high-speed trains. A Helsinki to Tallinn Tunnel has been proposed and agreed upon by representatives of the cities. The rail tunnel would connect Helsinki to the
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n capital
Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
, further linking Helsinki to the rest of continental Europe by
Rail Baltica Rail Baltica (also known as Rail Baltic in Estonia) is a high-speed railway under construction between Warsaw, Poland and Tallinn, Estonia, with further connections to Finland via Baltic Sea cruiseferries or the proposed Helsinki–Tallinn Tunn ...
.


Aviation

Air traffic is handled primarily from
Helsinki Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. ...
, located approximately north of Helsinki's downtown area, in the neighbouring city of
Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...
. Helsinki's own airport,
Helsinki-Malmi Airport Helsinki-Malmi Airport ( fi, Helsinki-Malmin lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Malm flygplats) is an airfield in Helsinki, Finland, located in the district of Malmi, north-north-east of the city centre. It was opened in 1936. Until the opening of Hel ...
, is mainly used for general and private aviation. Charter flights are available from
Hernesaari Heliport Hernesaari Heliport ( fi, Hernesaaren helikopterikenttä, sv, Ärtholmens heliport, ) is located at Hernesaari, in Helsinki, Finland. The heliport is run by Helikopterikeskus. The Heliport that used to be in Hernesaari has been closed. The H ...
.


Sea transport

Like many other cities, Helsinki was deliberately founded at a location on the sea in order to take advantage of shipping. The freezing of the sea imposed limitations on sea traffic up to the end of the 19th century. But for the last hundred years, the routes leading to Helsinki have been kept open even in winter with the aid of
icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
s, many of them built in the Helsinki Hietalahti shipyard. The arrival and departure of ships has also been a part of everyday life in Helsinki. Regular route traffic from Helsinki to Stockholm, Tallinn, and Saint Petersburg began as far back as 1837. Over 300 cruise ships and 360,000 cruise passengers visit Helsinki annually. There are international cruise ship docks in South Harbour,
Katajanokka Katajanokka ( sv, Skatudden) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland, with around 4000 inhabitants in 2005. The district is located adjacent to the immediate downtown area, though in the first major town plan for Helsinki from the mid-18th cent ...
, West Harbour, and Hernesaari. In terms of combined liner and cruise passengers, the Port of Helsinki overtook the Port of Dover in 2017 to become the busiest passenger port in the world. Ferry connections to Tallinn, Mariehamn, and Stockholm are serviced by various companies; very popular MS ''J. L. Runeberg'' ferry connection to Finland's second oldest city,
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
old town of
Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...
, is also available for tourists.
Finnlines Finnlines Plc ( fi, Finnlines Oyj, sv, Finnlines Abp) is a shipping operator of ro-ro and passenger services in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. It is a subsidiary of the Grimaldi Group. Finnlines’ sea transports are concentrated in the Bal ...
passenger-freight ferries to
Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...
, Poland;
Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, and the Danes ...
, Germany; and Rostock, Germany are also available. St. Peter Line offers passenger ferry service to Saint Petersburg several times a week.


Urban transport

In the Helsinki metropolitan area,
public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
ation is managed by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority, the metropolitan area transportation authority. The diverse Public transport in Helsinki, public transport system consists of Helsinki tram, trams, VR commuter rail, commuter rail, the Helsinki Metro, metro, bus lines, two ferry lines and a Helsinki City Bikes, public bike system. Helsinki tram, Helsinki's tram system officially began in Helsinki in 1891, when the first trams were horse-drawn; with electric drive, it has been in operation continuously since 1900. 13 routes that cover the inner part of the city are operated. , the city is expanding the tram network, with several major Planned extension of the Helsinki tram network, tram line construction projects under way. These include the Jokeri light rail (replacing the 550 bus line), roughly along Ring I around the city center, and a new tramway to the island of Laajasalo. Tram line 9 is planned to be extended from Pasila to Ilmala, largely along the new line, and line 6 from Hietalahti, Helsinki, Hietalahti first to Eiranranta, later to Hernesaari. New line sections are also planned for the
Kalasatama Kalasatama ( sv, Fiskehamnen; literally translated "fish port") is a neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. The area is officially part of the Sörnäinen district; and like Sörnäinen, Kalasatama is located a little more than one kilomet ...
area; construction work on the new tram as the numeber line 13 (Nihti–Kalasatama–Vallilanlaakso–Pasila) has begun in May 2020, and the line is scheduled for completion in 2024. In August 2016, the City Council of Helsinki, city council decided to implement the Crown Bridges project, and the goal for the completion of the entire tram connection of the Crown Bridges is 2026. The Helsinki commuter rail, commuter rail system includes purpose-built double track for local services in two rail corridors along intercity railways, and the Ring Rail Line, an urban double-track railway with a station at the
Helsinki Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. ...
in Vantaa. Electric operation of commuter trains was first begun in 1969, and the system has been gradually expanded since. 15 different services are operated , some extending outside of the Helsinki region. The frequent services run at a 10-minute headway in peak traffic.


International relations


Twin towns and sister cities

Helsinki is officially the sister city of Beijing, China ''(since 2006)''. In addition, the city has a special partnership relation with: * Saint Petersburg *
Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
* Stockholm * Berlin *
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...


Notable people


Born before 1900

* Peter Forsskål (1732–1763), Swedish-Finnish naturalist and orientalist * Axel Hampus Dalström (1829–1882), architect * Maria Tschetschulin (1850–1917), clerk * Augusta Krook (1853–1941), politician and teacher * Agnes Tschetschulin (1859–1942), composer and violinist * Jakob Sederholm (1863–1934), petrologist * Karl Fazer (1866–1932), baker, confectioner, chocolatier, entrepreneur, and Shooting sport, sport shooter * Emil Lindh (1867–1937), sailor * Oskar Merikanto (1868–1924), composer * Signe Lagerborg-Stenius (1870–1968), architect and member the Helsinki City Council * Maggie Gripenberg (1881–1976), dancer * Gunnar Nordström (1881–1923), theoretical physicist * Väinö Tanner (1881–1966), politician * Walter Jakobsson (1882–1957), figure-skater * Mauritz Stiller (1883–1928), Russian-Swedish director and screenwriter * Karl Wiik (1883–1946), Social Democratic politician * Lennart Lindroos (1886–1921), swimmer, Olympic games 1912 * Erkki Karu (1887–1935), film director and producer * Kai Donner (1888–1935), linguist, anthropologist and politician * Gustaf Molander (1888–1973), Swedish director and screenwriter * Johan Helo (1889–1966), lawyer and politician * Minna Craucher (1891–1932), socialite and spy * Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (1895–1973), chemist (Nobel Prize, 1945) * Rolf Nevanlinna (1895–1980), mathematician, university teacher and writer * Elmer Diktonius (1896–1961), Finnish-Swedish writer and composer * Yrjö Leino (1897–1961), communist politician * Toivo Wiherheimo (1898–1970), economist and politician


Born after 1900

* Aku Ahjolinna (born 1946), ballet dancer and choreographer * Lars Ahlfors (1907–1996), mathematician, Fields medalist * Ella Eronen (1909–1987), actress and poetic recite * Tuomas Holopainen (born 1976), songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer * Helena Anhava (1925–2018), poet, author and translator * Paavo Berglund (1929–2012), conductor * Laci Boldemann (1921–1969), composer * Irja Agnes Browallius (1901–1968), Swedish writer * Bo Carpelan (1926–2011), Finland-Swedish writer, literary critic and translator * Tarja Cronberg (born 1943), politician * Jörn Donner (1933–2020), writer, film director and politician * George Gaynes (1917–2016), television and film actor * Ragnar Granit (1900–1991), Finnish-Swedish neurophysiologist and Nobel laureate * Mika Waltari (1908–1979), writer * Elina Haavio-Mannila (born 1933), social scientist and professor * Tarja Halonen (born 1943), President of Finland * Reino Helismaa (1913–1965), writer, film actor and singer * Kim Hirschovits (born 1982), ice hockey player * Bengt Holmström (born 1949), Professor of Economics, Nobel laureate * Shawn Huff, Finnish basketball player * Kirsti Ilvessalo (1920–2019), textile artist * Tove Jansson (1914–2001), Finland-Swedish writer, painter, illustrator, comic writer, graphic designer * Aki Kaurismäki (born 1957), director, screenwriter and producer * Emma Kimiläinen (born 1989), racing driver * Kiti Kokkonen (born 1974), Finnish actress and writer * Petteri Koponen, Finnish basketball player * Lennart Koskinen (born 1944), Swedish, Lutheran bishop * Sam Lake (born 1970), writer and actor; the creative director at Remedy Entertainment * Olli Lehto (born 1925), mathematician * Samuel Lehtonen (1921–2010), bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland * Juha Leiviskä (born 1936), architect * Magnus Lindberg (born 1958), composer and pianist * Esa Lindell (born 1994), professional ice hockey player * Lill Lindfors (born 1940), Finland-Swedish singer and TV presenter * Jari Mäenpää (born 1977), founder, former lead guitarist and current lead singer in melodic death metal band
Wintersun Wintersun is a Finnish heavy metal band from Helsinki originally formed as the side project of Jari Mäenpää, then-vocalist and guitarist of folk metal band Ensiferum. In 2003, Mäenpää began pulling together songs that he had been wo ...
, former lead singer and guitarist of folk metal band Ensiferum * Klaus Mäkelä (born 1996), cellist and conductor * Susanna Mälkki (born 1969), conductor * Georg Malmstén (1902–1981), singer, musician, composer, orchestra director and actor * Tauno Marttinen (1912–2008), composer * Vesa-Matti Loiri (1945-2022), actor, comedian, singer * Abdirahim Hussein Mohamed (born 1978), Finnish-Somalian media personality and politician * Hanno Möttölä, Finnish basketball player * Väinö Myllyrinne (1909–1963), acromegalic giant and at time (1940–1963) the List of tallest people, world's tallest living person * Peter Nygård (born 1941), businessman, arrested in December 2020 for sex crimes * Markku Peltola (1956–2007), actor and musician * Kimmo Pikkarainen (born 1976), professional ice hockey player * Anne Marie Pohtamo (born 1955), actress, model, Miss Finland, Miss Suomi 1975 and Miss Universe 1975 * Elisabeth Rehn (born 1935), politician *
Einojuhani Rautavaara Einojuhani Rautavaara (; 9 October 1928 – 27 July 2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara wrote a great number of works spanning various styles. ...
(1928–2016), composer * Miron Ruina (born 1998), Finnish-Israeli basketball player *
Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inte ...
(born 1952), composer * Riitta Salin (born 1950), athlete * Sasu Salin, Finnish basketball player *
Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...
(born 1958), composer and conductor * Asko Sarkola (born 1945), actor * Heikki Sarmanto (born 1939), jazz pianist and composer * Teemu Selänne (born 1970), Hockey Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame ice hockey player * Ann Selin (born 1960), trade union leader * Birgit Sergelius (1907–1979), stage and film actress * Teuvo Teräväinen (born 1994), professional ice hockey player * Märta Tikkanen (born 1935), Finland-Swedish writer and philosophy teacher * Linus Torvalds (born 1969), software engineer, creator of Linux * Elin Törnudd (1924–2008), Finnish chief librarian and professor * Klaus Törnudd (born 1931), diplomat and political scientist * Sirkka Turkka (born 1939), poet * Jarno Tuunainen (born 1977), footballer * Ville Valo (born 1976), lead singer of the rock band HIM * Ulla Vuorela (1945–2011), professor of social anthropology * Lauri Ylönen (born 1979), lead singer of the rock band The Rasmus


See also

* * Greater Helsinki *
Helsinki urban area The Helsinki urban area (, sv, Helsingfors centraltätort), is the largest ''taajama'' in Finland.Hel.fi: Official City of Helsinki websitewelcome.helsinki: An introduction to the city for new residentsMy Helsinki: Your local guide to HelsinkiLunch restaurants in Helsinki
{{Authority control Helsinki, Greater Helsinki Capitals in Europe Cities and towns in Finland Grand Duchy of Finland Port cities and towns in Finland Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea Populated coastal places in Finland Populated places established in 1550 1550 establishments in Europe 16th-century establishments in Finland