The Swedish Theatre ( sv, Svenska Teatern) is a

Swedish-language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic countr ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

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 ...

, and is located at the

Erottaja Erottaja ( sv, Skillnaden), meaning "the separator", is a public square near the centre of Helsinki, Finland. Erottaja square has been selected as the official geographic " zero point" of Helsinki. Distances to all other cities in Finland are meas ...

( sv, Skillnaden) square, at the end of

Esplanadi Esplanadi ( sv, Esplanaden), colloquially known as Espa, is an esplanade and urban park in downtown Helsinki, Finland, situated between the Erottaja square and the Market Square. It is bordered on its northern and southern sides by the Pohjoisesp ...

( sv, Esplanaden). It was the first national stage of Finland.

History

The first theatre in Helsinki, ''

Engels Teater Engels teater ('Engel Theatre') was a historic theatre in Helsinki in Finland, active between 1827 and 1860. It was the second theater in Finland after '' Bonuviers Teater'' in Åbo, and the first theatre in Helsinki. It was located on Esplanaden a ...

'', was completed in 1827. The wooden building designed by architect

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel, or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840), was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ...

was located in the corner of Mikaelsgatan and Esplanaden. At the time the theatre was opened it had no permanent actors and many of the actors who performed in the theatre during that time were en route to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. The theatre designed by Engel soon became too small as the interest in theatre grew rapidly among the citizens of Helsinki. The new theatre building was opened on 28 November 1860. The new building, which was designed by Georg Theodor von Chiewitz, was built on Skillnaden, on the same site as the current Svenska Teatern. The first play performed in the new theatre was ''Princessan av Cypern'' by

Zacharias Topelius Zachris Topelius (, ; 14 January 181812 March 1898) was a Finnish author, poet, journalist, historian, and rector of the University of Helsinki who wrote novels related to Finnish history. Given name Zacharias is his baptismal name, and this ...

and

Fredrik Pacius Fredrik Pacius (; born Friedrich Pacius; 19 March 1809 – 8 January 1891) was a German-Finnish composer and conductor who lived most of his life in Finland. He has been called the "Father of Finnish music". Pacius was born in Hamburg. He was ap ...

. The first actors of the theatre were from the group of

Pierre Deland Pierre Joseph Deland (13 December 1805 – 13 November 1862) was a Swedish stage actor and theatre director. He was the director of the Deland Theater Company in 1833-1861, a travelling theater famous in both Sweden and Finland, and as such an in ...

. The group performed in the theatre in 1860–1861. The language was initially Swedish, but Finnish language was soon launched on stage by the Swedish actress

Hedvig Raa-Winterhjelm Hedvig Charlotta Raa-Winterhjelm, née Forssman (20 November 1838 – 7 March 1907), was a Swedish actress active in Sweden, Norway and Finland. She played a pioneer role in Finland by introducing Finnish as a stage language, becoming the first ac ...

. Only three years after the new theatre building was completed it was destroyed in a fire in 1863. The building was soon rebuilt, in the

Neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

, and the theatre re-opened its doors in 1866. This time the architect was

Nicholas Benois Nicholas Benois (russian: link=no, Никола́й Лео́нтьевич Бенуа́; 13 July 1813 – 23 December 1898) was an Imperial Russian architect who worked in Petergof, Peterhof and other suburbs of St Petersburg. Biography Benois w ...

from Russia. The theatre carried the name ''Nya Teatern'' (New Theatre) until the year 1887, when a Finnish theatre was opened in Helsinki. Since 1887 the name of the theatre has been Svenska Teatern. The building of Svenska Teatern was renovated in 1935 by architects

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...

and

Jarl Eklund Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty k ...

. The richly decorated facade of the building was replaced with a new facade representing functionalism. In the beginning of the 20th century, the directors of the theatre were mainly Swedish and many of the actors came from Sweden. In 1915, it was decided that theatre was to become a national stage for the Finland-Swedish theatre. Already in 1908, a new theatre school was founded by the theatre. Many pieces of incidental music by

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...

had their premiere in the theatre, including the initial version of

Finlandia ''Finlandia'', Op. 26, is a tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian ...

in November 1899.

References

External links

*
Official website

{{Helsinki Cityscape Organizations established in 1827 Commercial buildings completed in 1860 Commercial buildings completed in 1866 Theatres in Helsinki Eero Saarinen structures Neoclassical architecture in Finland Kaartinkaupunki 1866 establishments in the Russian Empire 1827 establishments in the Russian Empire