capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
,
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, He ...
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 and Sou ...
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 ...
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 founded ...
(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
Greater Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin seutu, Suur-Helsinki, Swedish: ''Helsingforsregionen'', ''Storhelsingfors'') is the metropolitan area surrounding Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It includes the smaller Capital Region (''Pääkaupunkiseutu' ...
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 ...
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 Greater Helsinki, metropolitan area, and the ...
, 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 rev ...
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.
Ad ...
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
* Chris ...
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
The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...
), 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 northern ...
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 =
, coun ...
documents and Finnish language newspapers have used the name ''Helsinki'' since 1819, when the
Senate of Finland
The Senate of Finland ( fi, Suomen senaatti, sv, Senaten för Finland) combined the functions of cabinet and supreme court in the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1816 to 1917 and in the independent Finland from 1917 to 1918.
The body that would beco ...
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
Helsinki slang or ('Helsinki's slang', from Swedish language, Swedish , 'city'; see #Etymology, etymology) is a local dialect and a sociolect of the Finnish language mainly used in the capital city of Helsinki. It is characterized by its abunda ...
, 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 ra ...
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 companie ...
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 (historical province), Tavastia (Häme) ...
. 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 administr ...
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.
Ad ...
, 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
The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...
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 subdivision ...
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 ('' Riksföre ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 16 ...
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 ...
Helsinki Cathedral
Helsinki Cathedral ( fi, Helsingin tuomiokirkko, ; sv, Helsingfors domkyrka, ) is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka in the c ...
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
Helsinki slang or ('Helsinki's slang', from Swedish language, Swedish , 'city'; see #Etymology, etymology) is a local dialect and a sociolect of the Finnish language mainly used in the capital city of Helsinki. It is characterized by its abunda ...
(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
Kallio (; sv, Berghäll; literally " the rock") is a district and a neighbourhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, located on the eastern side of the Helsinki peninsula about one kilometre north from the city centre. It is one of the mo ...
, 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 ...
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 biology, conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological g ...
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
Suomenlinna (; until 1918 Viapori, ), or Sveaborg (), is an inhabited sea fortress the Suomenlinna district is on eight islands of which six have been fortified; it is about 4 km southeast of the city center of Helsinki, the capital of Finla ...
(Sveaborg), the military island of
Santahamina
Santahamina ( sv, Sandhamn) is an island and neighbourhood of Eastern Helsinki, Finland. At present it is a military base housing the Guard Jaeger Regiment, making access restricted. The Finnish National Defence University (NDU) is also located ...
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 Long ...
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
Vanhankaupunginselkä (also called ''Vanhankaupunginlahti'', sv, Gammelstadsfjärden) is a bay area which together with parts of adjoining Viikki district constitute a natural conservation zone near downtown Helsinki in the southern part of Finl ...
, 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 founded ...
. 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
Greater Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin seutu, Suur-Helsinki, Swedish: ''Helsingforsregionen'', ''Storhelsingfors'') is the metropolitan area surrounding Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It includes the smaller Capital Region (''Pääkaupunkiseutu' ...
) 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
Kerava (; sv, Kervo) is a town and municipality within the Uusimaa region of Finland. The municipalities of Vantaa, Sipoo and Tuusula are adjacent to Kerava, which is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area.
The town has a population of () an ...
,
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 t ...
,
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 sou ...
,
Mäntsälä
Mäntsälä () is a municipality in the province of Southern Finland, and is part of the Uusimaa region. It has a population of
() and covers an area of of
which
is water. The population density is
. The municipality is unilingually Finnish. M ...
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 winte ...
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
The summer solstice, also called the estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer ...
, 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 Greater Helsinki, metropolitan area, and the ...
(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 Central business district, business center and city center usually refer to Kluuvi, Kamppi and Punavuori. Other subdivisional centers outside the downtown area include Malmi, Helsinki, Malmi ( sv, Malm), located in the northeastern part of city, and Itäkeskus ( sv, Östra centrum), in the eastern part of city.
Cityscape
Neoclassical and romantic nationalism trend
Carl Ludvig Engel, appointed to plan a new city centre on his own, designed several Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical buildings in Helsinki. The focal point of Engel's city plan was the Helsinki Senate Square, Senate Square. It is surrounded by the Government Palace (Finland), Government Palace (to the east), the main building of Helsinki University (to the west), and (to the north) the large
Helsinki Cathedral
Helsinki Cathedral ( fi, Helsingin tuomiokirkko, ; sv, Helsingfors domkyrka, ) is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka in the c ...
, which was finished in 1852, twelve years after Engel's death. Helsinki's epithet, "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 Helsinki Old Church, Old Church (1826) designed by Engel.
Helsinki is also home to numerous Art Nouveau-influenced (Jugendstil, Jugend in Finnish) buildings belonging to the Kansallisromantiikka (romantic nationalism) trend, designed in the early 20th century and strongly influenced by ''Kalevala'', which was a common theme of the era. Helsinki's Art Nouveau style is also featured in central residential districts, such as Katajanokka and Ullanlinna. An important architect of the Finnish Art Nouveau style was Eliel Saarinen, whose architectural masterpiece was the Helsinki Central railway station, Helsinki Central Station. Opposite the Bank of Finland building is the Renaissance Revival architecture, Renaissance Revivalish the House of the Estates (1891).
The only visible public buildings of the Gothic Revival architecture in Helsinki are St. John's Church, Helsinki, St. John's Church (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 (Finland), 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 St. Henry's Cathedral.
Helsinki's neoclassical buildings were often used as a backdrop for scenes set to take place in the Soviet Union in many Cold War era Hollywood movies, when filming in the USSR was not possible. Some of them include ''The Kremlin Letter'' (1970), ''Reds (film), Reds'' (1981), and ''Gorky Park (film), Gorky Park'' (1983). Because some streetscapes were reminiscent of Leningrad's and Moscow'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 film, espionage Thriller film, thriller ''Billion Dollar Brain'', starring Michael Caine. 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 (architecture), functionalism. However, some of his works, such as the headquarters of the paper company Stora Enso and the concert venue Finlandia Hall, have been subject to divided opinions from the citizens.
Functionalist buildings in Helsinki by other architects include the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Olympic Stadium, the Tennispalatsi, Tennis Palace, the Töölö Rowing Stadium, Rowing Stadium, the Helsinki Swimming Stadium, Swimming Stadium, the Helsinki Velodrome, Velodrome, the Lasipalatsi, Glass Palace, the Töölö Sports Hall, and Helsinki-Malmi Airport. The sports venues were built to serve the 1940 Helsinki Olympic Games; the games were initially cancelled due to the Second World War, but the venues fulfilled their purpose in the 1952 Olympic Games. Many of them are listed by DoCoMoMo as significant examples of modern architecture. Helsinki Olympic Stadium, The Olympic Stadium and Helsinki-Malmi Airport are also catalogued by the Finnish National Board of Antiquities, Finnish Heritage Agency as cultural-historical environments of national significance.
When Finland became heavily urbanized in the 1960s and 1970s, the district of Pihlajamäki, for example, was built in Helsinki for new residents, where for the first time in Finland, precast concrete was used on a large scale. Pikku Huopalahti, 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 in Eastern Helsinki 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 is represented, for example, by the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, 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 (), built in 1931, has generally been called Finland's first skyscraper, and was at time the List of tallest buildings in Finland, 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 and Kalasatama. 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) 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 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 Estonian 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 of Russia, Alexander II (1894), the fountain sculpture ''Havis Amanda'' (1908), the Paavo Nurmi statue (1925), the ''Three Smiths Statue'' (1932), the Aleksis Kivi Memorial (1939), the Eino Leino (statue), Eino Leino Statue (1953), the Equestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim (1960) and the ''Sibelius Monument (Helsinki), Sibelius Monument'' (1967).
Government
As is the case with all Municipalities of Finland, Finnish municipalities, City Council of Helsinki, Helsinki's city council is the main decision-making organ in local politics, dealing with issues such as urban planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The council is chosen in the nationally held Elections in Finland#Municipal elections, municipal elections, 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 (25), the Green League (21), and the Social Democratic Party of Finland, Social Democratic Party (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. 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 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 Helsinki Regional Transport Authority, 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, Hämeenlinna, Lahti, 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 Homelessness, homeless people 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 First language, native language. 5.6% speak Finland Swedish, Swedish. 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 speakers live in Helsinki, nearly half of Finland's total Finnish Tatars, Tatar speakers.
Helsinki slang
Helsinki slang or ('Helsinki's slang', from Swedish language, Swedish , 'city'; see #Etymology, etymology) is a local dialect and a sociolect of the Finnish language mainly used in the capital city of Helsinki. It is characterized by its abunda ...
is a regional dialect of the city. It combines influences mainly from Finnish and English, and has traditionally had strong Russian language, Russian 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, 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 Immigration, immigrant 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. 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 is a Lutheranism, Lutheran church in the Töölö neighborhood of the city. The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen 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 is the
Helsinki Cathedral
Helsinki Cathedral ( fi, Helsingin tuomiokirkko, ; sv, Helsingfors domkyrka, ) is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka in the c ...
, 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 Orthodoxy, Orthodox congregation is the Orthodox Church of Helsinki. It has 20,000 members. Its main church is the Uspenski Cathedral. The two largest Catholicism, Catholic congregations are the Cathedral of Saint Henry, with 4,552 members, established in 1860 and St. Mary's Church, Helsinki, 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. 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, Kosovo Albanians, Kosovars, Kurds and Bosniaks 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 from 1906, located in Kamppi. It has over 1,200 members, out of the 1,800 Jews in Finland, and it is the older of the two buildings in Finland originally built as a synagogue, followed by the Turku Synagogue 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, 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, 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 (
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
*University of the Arts Helsinki
*National Defence University (Finland), National Defence University
*Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences
*Laurea University of Applied Sciences
*Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
*Arcada University of Applied Sciences
*Diaconia University of Applied Sciences
*HUMAK University of Applied Sciences
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 (EIT).
Culture
Museums
The biggest historical museum in Helsinki is the National Museum of Finland, 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, 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 "Arppeanum" and the Finnish Museum of Natural History.
The Finnish National Gallery consists of three museums: Ateneum, Ateneum Art Museum for classical Finnish art, Sinebrychoff Art Museum for classical European art, and Kiasma, 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.
The city of Helsinki hosts its own art collection in the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), primarily located in its Tennispalatsi 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, Helsinki, 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, Didrichsen Art Museum, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Amos Rex Art Museum, and the .
File:Sinebrychoff Art Museum building 2014.jpg, Sinebrychoff Art Museum (1842)
File:Arppeanum - DSC05409.JPG, Helsinki University Museum "Arppeanum" (1869)
File:Cygnauksen galleria.jpg, The Cygnaeus Gallery, Cygnaeus Gallery Museum (1870)
File:Mannerheim Museum.jpg, The Mannerheim Museum (1874; 1957 as museum)
File:Sotakorkeakoulu.jpg, The Military Museum of Finland (1881)
File:Helsinki July 2013-26a.jpg, Classical art museum Ateneum (1887)
File:Designmuseo 2020.jpg, The Design Museum, Helsinki, Design Museum (1894)
File:Tram museum in Helsinki-7152.jpg, (''Ratikkamuseo'') (1900)
File: Kansallismuseo Helsinki.jpg, The National Museum of Finland (1910)
File:10 Helsinki City Museum main building.jpg, The Helsinki City Museum (1911)
File:Luonnontieteellinen museo 2020.jpg, The Finnish Museum of Natural History (1913)
File:Taidehalli Helsinki.jpg, Kunsthalle Helsinki art venue (1928)
File:Didrichsenin taidemuseo.jpg, Didrichsen Art Museum (1964)
File:Helsinki Art Museum entrance 01.JPG, Helsinki Art Museum (1968)
File:Helsinki Kiasma.jpg, Kiasma museum of contemporary art (1998)
File:Lasipalatsi - Amos Rex 20180821 152604.jpg, Amos Rex art museum (2018)
Theatres
Helsinki has three major theatres: The Finnish National Theatre, the Helsinki City Theatre, and the Swedish Theatre (''Svenska Teatern''). Other notable theatres in the city include the Alexander Theatre, ', , , and '.
Music
Helsinki is home to two full-size symphony orchestras, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both of which perform at the Helsinki Music Centre concert hall. Acclaimed contemporary composers Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg (Finnish composer), Magnus Lindberg, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Einojuhani Rautavaara, among others, were born and raised in Helsinki, and studied at the Sibelius Academy. The Finnish National Opera, the only full-time, professional opera company in Finland, is located in Helsinki. The opera singer Martti Wallén, one of the company's long-time soloists, was born and raised in Helsinki, as was mezzo-soprano Monica Groop.
Many widely renowned and acclaimed bands have originated in Helsinki, including Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Hanoi Rocks, HIM (Finnish band), HIM, Stratovarius, The 69 Eyes, Finntroll, Ensiferum, Wintersun, The Rasmus, Poets of the Fall, and Apocalyptica. The most significant of the metal music events in Helsinki is the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival in Suvilahti, Sörnäinen.
The city's main musical venues are the Finnish National Opera, the Finlandia Hall, Finlandia concert hall, and the Helsinki Music Centre. The Music Centre also houses a part of the Sibelius Academy. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: the Helsinki Halli or the Helsinki Ice Hall. Helsinki has Finland's largest fairgrounds, the Messukeskus Helsinki, which is attended by more than a million visitors a year.
Helsinki Arena hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, the first Eurovision Song Contest arranged in Finland, following Lordi's win in Eurovision Song Contest 2006, 2006.
Art
The Helsinki Day (''Helsinki-päivä'') will be celebrated on every 12 June, with numerous entertainment events culminating in an open-air concert. Also, the Helsinki Festival is an annual arts and culture festival, which takes place every August (including the Night of the Arts).
At the Helsinki Senate Square, 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''.
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, Kone, and Marimekko, popular events, like the annual , outstanding education and research institutions, such as the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, and exemplary architects and designers such as Eliel Saarinen 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, Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy film festival, also known as Helsinki International Film Festival, which features films on a wide spectrum. Night Visions (film festival), Night Visions, on the other hand, focuses on genre cinema, screening horror film, horror, fantasy, and science fiction films in very popular movie marathons that last the entire night. Another popular film festival is , a festival that focuses solely on documentary film, documentary cinema.
Media
Today, there are around 200 newspapers, 320 popular magazines, 2,100 professional magazines, 67 commercial radio stations, three digital radio channels, and one nationwide and five national Public broadcasting, public service radio channels.
Sanoma publishes Finland's Newspaper of record, journal of record, ''Helsingin Sanomat'', the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid ''Ilta-Sanomat'', the commerce-oriented ''Taloussanomat'', and the television channel Nelonen. Another Helsinki-based media house, Alma Media, publishes over thirty magazines, including the tabloid ''Iltalehti'', and the commerce-oriented ''Kauppalehti''.
Finland's national public-broadcasting institution Yle operates five television channels and thirteen radio channels in both national languages. Yle is headquartered in the neighbourhood of Pasila. All TV channels are broadcast Digital television, 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 and commercial radio channel Radio Nova (Finland), Radio Nova are owned by Nordic Broadcasting (Bonnier Group, Bonnier and Proventus).
Food
Helsinki was already known in the 18th century for its abundant number of inns and pubs, where both locals and those who landed in the harbor were offered plenty of Alcoholic drink, alcoholic beverages. 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 merchants 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 Coffeehouse, café of Finland, , was established by confectioner (1825–1891) after attending his studies in St. Petersburg. Ekberg has also been said to have created Finland's "national pastry 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, which is very popular with foreign tourists.
As an important port city on the Baltic Sea, Helsinki has long been known for its fish food, and it has recently started to become one of the leading fish food capitals in Northern Europe. Helsinki's Market Square, Helsinki, Market Square is especially known for its traditional herring market, which has been organized since 1743. Salmon is also a typical Helsinki fish dish, both fried and Fish soup, souped. The most prestigious restaurants specializing in seafood include Restaurant Fisken på Disken.
Helsinki is currently experiencing a period of booming food culture, 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 cuisine, Asian restaurants such as Chinese cuisine, Chinese, Thai cuisine, Thai, Indian cuisine, Indian and Nepalese cuisine, Nepalese are particularly prominent in Helsinki's cityscape, but over the past couple of years, restaurants serving Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese food have been very popular. Sushi 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 cuisine, Nordic flavors. Also, the Russian cuisine is still relatively strong in these days, one of which is the salty ''blinis'', 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 (Helsinki), 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 is an annual carnival for students and workers on 1 May. The last week of June marks the Helsinki Pride human rights 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 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, World Championships in Athletics 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: association football, football and ice hockey. Helsinki houses HJK Helsinki, Finland's largest and most successful football club, and HIFK Fotboll, 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 HIFK (ice hockey), IFK Helsingfors (HIFK) or Jokerit. HIFK, with 14 Finnish championships titles, also plays in the highest bandy division, along with Botnia-69. The Olympic stadium hosted the first ever Bandy World Championship 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 race through the city streets was held on 25 May 1997. In 2009 Helsinki was host of the European Figure Skating Championships, and in 2017 it hosted World Figure Skating Championships. The city will host the 2021 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup.
Most of Helsinki's sports venues are under the responsibility of the city's sports office, such as 70 sports halls and about 350 sports fields. There are nine ice rinks, 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 pools, the largest of which is the , two inland swimming pools and more than 20 beaches, of which Hietaniemi Beach is probably the most famous.
Transport
Roads
The backbone of Helsinki's motorway network consists of three semicircle, semicircular ring road, beltways, Ring I, Ring II, and Ring III, which connect expressways heading to other parts of Finland, and the western and eastern arteries of ''Länsiväylä'' and ''Itäväylä'' respectively. While variants of a ''Keskustatunneli'' tunnel under the city centre have been repeatedly proposed, the plan remains on the drawing board.
Many important Highways in Finland, Finnish highways leave Helsinki for various parts of Finland; most of them in the form of motorways, but a few of these exceptions include ''Vihdintie''. The most significant highways are:
* Finnish national road 1/European route E18, E18 (to Lohja, Salo, Finland, Salo 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''; ...
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)
* Finnish national road 4/European route E75, E75 (to Lahti, Jyväskylä, 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/European route E18, 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).
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 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 Finnish Main Line, Main Line (''päärata''), which is the first railway line in Finland, was officially opened on 17 March 1862, between cities of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. The railway connection to the east branches from the Main Line outside of Helsinki at Kerava, and leads via Lahti 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 (train), 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 Estonian 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.
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 Greater Helsinki, metropolitan area, and the ...
, 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, is mainly used for general and private aviation. Charter flights are available from Hernesaari Heliport.
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 icebreakers, 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, Helsinki, South Harbour, Katajanokka, West Harbour, Helsinki, 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 List of busiest cruise ports by passengers, busiest passenger port in the world.
Ferry connections to Tallinn, Mariehamn, and Stockholm are serviced by various companies; very popular MS J. L. Runeberg, MS ''J. L. Runeberg'' ferry connection to Finland's second oldest city, medieval 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 passenger-freight ferries to Gdynia, Poland; Travemünde, 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 transportation 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 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 Greater Helsinki, metropolitan area, and the ...
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
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, 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 (1928–2016), composer
* Miron Ruina (born 1998), Finnish-Israeli basketball player
* Kaija Saariaho (born 1952), composer
* Riitta Salin (born 1950), athlete
* Sasu Salin, Finnish basketball player
* Esa-Pekka Salonen (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
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Greater Helsinki
Greater Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin seutu, Suur-Helsinki, Swedish: ''Helsingforsregionen'', ''Storhelsingfors'') is the metropolitan area surrounding Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It includes the smaller Capital Region (''Pääkaupunkiseutu' ...