Iso Roobertinkatu (

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 ...

: ''Stora Robertsgatan''), meaning "great Robert street" is a street running northeast-southwest in the

Punavuori Punavuori ( sv, Rödbergen) is a neighbourhood in the center of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name Punavuori (English: Red mountain) refers to red cliffs located between Sepänkatu and Punavuorenkatu. They were still visible in the 19th ce ...

district in

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

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

. Its shorter east-west counterpart Pieni Roobertinkatu ("little Robert street") is located near it in

Kaartinkaupunki Kaartinkaupunki ( sv, Gardesstaden) is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in the southern part of Helsinki, Finland. Kaartinkaupunki consists of the area between the Esplanadi park and the Tähtitornin vuori park. Its ar ...

. Both streets are named after

Robert Henrik Rehbinder Count Robert Henrik Rehbinder (15 July 1777 – 8 March 1841) served as the Secretary of State for the Grand Duchy of Finland between 1811 and 1841. One of the highest officials in the Grand Duchy, he played a significant part in establishing the ...

(1777-1841). Iso Roobertinkatu is among the best known pedestrian and shopping streets in Helsinki. In the southwest the street, unlike other streets in Punavuori, does not extend to Telakkakatu or the sea shore but instead ends at the Sinebrychoff Park with stairs leading from the end of the street onto the cliff at the park. At the western end of the street a very short street called Kivenhakkaajankatu ("stonemason street") branches off to the left, ending at the intersection with Punavuorenkatu. In the northeast Iso Roobertinkatu reaches to Yrjönkatu, east of which it continues under the name of Pieni Roobertinkatu, but not exactly in the same direction. The Swedish names for Iso and Pieni Roobertinkatu were taken into use already in 1820. The

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 ...

names were Ropertin Suurikatu and Ropertin Pikkukatu ("Robert's great street" and "Robert's little street", respectively) in a 1866 map, and in the 1890s the names were changed to Iso and Pikku Robertinkatu, made official in 1909. The Finnish spelling of the names was fixed in 1928. Reserving Iso Roobertinkatu mainly for public transport and pedestrian traffic was first proposed at different boards of the city council of Helsinki in the 1950s. The part of Iso Roobertinkatu between

Fredrikinkatu Fredrikinkatu ( sv, Fredriksgatan, Helsinki slang: ''Freda'') is a street in Helsinki, Finland that starts from Viiskulma in the district of Punavuori and continues north by the western side of Kamppi Center until it reaches Lutherinkatu and the ...

and Yrjönkatu was converted into a

pedestrian zone Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

after the city council approved a change in the zoning plan in May 1983. Helsinki's first proper pedestrian zone was opened on Iso Roobertinkatu on 14 September 1985. Streets crossing Iso Roobertinkatu include from east to west: Yrjönkatu, Annankatu, Fredrikinkatu, Albertinkatu and the short street Kivenhakkaajankatu, leading from the end of Iso Roobertinkatu to Punavuorenkatu running in the same direction. At the start of the street is the 1995 modern sculpture '' Viheltävä helsinkiläinen'' ("the whistling Helsinkian"), donated by sculptor

Björn Weckström Björn Ragnar Weckström (born February 8, 1935) is a Finnish sculptor and jewelry designer. He graduated from Helsinki Goldsmith’s school in 1956. Since the very beginning of his career, Weckström has been a highly ambitious designer and arti ...

to the city of Helsinki.Viheltävä helsinkiläinen
art museum of the city of Helsinki. Accessed on 2 August 2012.

References

External links

*
Virtual Iso-Roba

Netissä virtuaalinen Iso-Roba
''

Turun Sanomat ''Turun Sanomat'' is the leading regional newspaper of the region of Southwest Finland. It is published in the region's capital, Turku and the third most widely read morning newspaper in Finland after '' Helsingin Sanomat'' and ''Aamulehti''. Hi ...

'' {{coord, 60, 9, 46, N, 24, 56, 26, E, display=title Streets in Helsinki Punavuori