The Sibelius Monument ( fi, Sibelius-monumentti; sv, Sibeliusmonumentet) by
Eila Hiltunen
Eila Vilhelmina Hiltunen (22 November 1922, Sortavala – 10 October 2003, Helsinki) was a Finnish sculptor. She is most famous for the Sibelius Monument (1967). A statue by Hiltunen resembling a smaller version of the Sibelius Monument stands on ...
is dedicated to 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 ...
composer
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...
(1865–1957). The monument is located at the Sibelius Park ( fi, Sibeliuspuisto; sv, Sibeliusparken) in the district of
Töölö
Töölö (; sv, Tölö, formerly spelled ''Thölö'') is the collective name for the neighbourhoods Etu-Töölö ( sv, Främre Tölö, lit=Front Töölö, links=no) and Taka-Töölö ( sv, Bortre Tölö, lit=Rear Töölö, links=no) in Helsink ...
in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
, the capital city 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 ...
.
Description
The monument is a sculpture by Finnish artist
Eila Hiltunen
Eila Vilhelmina Hiltunen (22 November 1922, Sortavala – 10 October 2003, Helsinki) was a Finnish sculptor. She is most famous for the Sibelius Monument (1967). A statue by Hiltunen resembling a smaller version of the Sibelius Monument stands on ...
titled ''Passio Musicae'' and was unveiled on September 7, 1967. The sculpture won a competition, organised by the Sibelius Society, following the composer's death in 1957. The competition took two rounds after one early winner was abandoned. Originally it sparked a lively debate about the merits and flaws of
abstract art and although the design looked like stylised organ pipes it was known that the composer had created little music for organs. Hiltunen addressed her critics by adding the face of Sibelius which sits beside the main sculpture.
It consists of series of more than 600 hollow
steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern. The monument weighs and measures . Hiltunen's aim was to capture the essence of the music of Sibelius.
A smaller version of the monument, "Homage to Sibelius", is located at the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
headquarters in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. A work with a similar concept, also designed by Hiltunen, is located at the grounds of the
Headquarters of the United Nations
zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas
, image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg
, im ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
Sibelius Park and Kalevala Monument
In 1939 the
Leo and Regina Wainstein Foundation organised a competition for sculptors to design a work that depicted a scene from Finland's national epic ''
The Kalevala
The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and ...
'', which would be erected in the park. The winner was
Aarre Aaltonen (1889–1980) and his work ''Ilmatar and the Scaup'', in bronze, was unveiled in 1946.
Gallery
File:Sibelius-monumentin-paljastus.jpg, President Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as prime minister ...
and the artist at the unveiling
File:Jean Sibelius Park.jpg, alt=Sibelius monument, Sibelius Park
File:WWII monument in Sibelius Park.jpg, World War II Monument in Sibelius Park
References
External links
Virtual tour of Sibelius Monument
Buildings and structures in Helsinki
Statues and sculptures in Helsinki
Monuments to composers
Monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
1967 sculptures
Steel sculptures in Finland
1967 establishments in Finland
Outdoor sculptures in Finland
Monuments and memorials in Finland
Sculptures of men
Sound sculptures
Töölö
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