Culture

History

Pre 20c

Helsinki was founded in 1550 by Swedish king Gustav Vasa and is the sixth-oldest town in Finland. The king longed to create a rival to the Hansa trading town of Tallin, the present-day capital of Estonia. By royal decree traders from Ekenäs and a few other towns were bundled off to the newly founded settlement, known as Helsingfors.

For more than 200 years Helsinki remained a backwater market town on a windy, rocky peninsula. Then, in 1809, Russia annexed Finland from the decaying Swedish empire. A capital closer to St Petersburg was needed to keep a better watch on Finland's domestic politics. Helsinki was chosen - in large part because of the massive sea fortress (now called Suomenlinna) just outside the harbour - and so in 1812 the classy Turku lost its long-standing status as Finland's premier town.

A devastating fire in 1808 provided an impetus to rebuild Helsinki in a manner befitting a capital. German-born architect Carl Ludwig Engel and local architect Johan Albrecht Ehrenström spearheaded the project.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Helsinki grew rapidly in all directions. Railway construction helped the city become an affluent industrial centre, and grand art nouveau buildings reflected that wealth. The arts also flourished at the turn of the 20th century, with noted composer Jean Sibelius leading a renaissance of Finnish culture.

Modern History

The Communist revolution of October 1917 enabled Finland to declare independence from Russia. The jubilation was short-lived, however, as the country was plunged into a bloody civil war. The nationalists prevailed in 1918, and Helsinki developed quickly to become a world-class capital. It suffered Russian bombing during WWII, but in the postwar period Helsinki recovered and went on to host the Olympic Games in 1952.

In the 1970s and 80s, many new suburbs were built around Helsinki, and residents celebrated their 'Helsinki Spirit', a term used for Cold War détente.

Recent History

Helsinki has served as an international conference point on numerous occasions - for everything from weighty economic summits to the World Dog Show. It has become a major technology centre and one of Europe's fastest-growing cities. It was a European Capital of Culture in 2000.