50 Fun Facts About Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital of which country?

About 694,000 people live in the municipality and 1.6 million in the metropolitan area.

By what Swedish name was Helsinki known in English until about 1930?

The name refers to the Vanhankaupunginkoski rapids at the mouth of the Vantaa River.

On which arm of the Baltic does Helsinki sit?

Tallinn lies 80 km south across the water; the city calls itself the Daughter of the Baltic.

Which two languages are official in the bilingual municipality of Helsinki?

Around 1900 the two language groups were roughly equal in size; the local slang mixed both with German and Russian.

Which king founded Helsinki in 1550?

He wanted a trading rival to Hanseatic Reval (Tallinn) and ordered burghers from Porvoo, Rauma and other towns to move there.

Which Hanseatic city was Helsinki founded to rival?

The shallow bay made a harbour impossible, so the settlers were eventually allowed to leave the site.

Who moved the town centre to the Vironniemi peninsula in 1640?

That is today's Kruununhaka district, home of Senate Square and the cathedral.

What killed most of Helsinki's population in 1710?

The Russians took the town in 1713 during the Great Northern War, and the retreating Swedes torched part of it.

Which Russian emperor moved the Grand Duchy's capital from Turku to Helsinki in 1812?

He wanted to reduce Swedish influence and bring the capital closer to St Petersburg.

Which city was the country's capital before Helsinki?

After the Great Fire of Turku in 1827 the country's only university followed the government to Helsinki.

Which German-born architect planned Helsinki's neoclassical centre to resemble St Petersburg?

His Senate Square is flanked by the Government Palace, the university and Helsinki Cathedral, finished in 1852, twelve years after his death.

What is the epithet Helsinki gained from its neoclassical building era?

It is also called the Daughter of the Baltic and the Pearl of the Baltic.

What is the oldest surviving building in central Helsinki?

Most older buildings postdate the 1808 fire that destroyed about a quarter of the city.

Which architect designed Helsinki Central Station, a masterpiece of Finnish Art Nouveau?

The romantic-nationalist style drew heavily on the Kalevala; Saarinen also proposed an 85 m Kalevalatalo tower in 1921.

Which Summer Olympics did Helsinki host?

The venues had been built for the cancelled 1940 Games; the Olympic Stadium is a listed functionalist landmark.

In what year did the Helsinki Metro open?

Rapid 1970s urbanisation had tripled the metropolitan population; the line reached Espoo in 2017 and 2022.

How many islands does Helsinki span?

They include Suomenlinna, Korkeasaari with Finland's largest zoo, and Pihlajasaari, likened to New York's Fire Island.

What are Helsinki's official plant and animal?

The city also has 60 nature reserves and about 11,000 boat moorings.

How long is the day in Helsinki around the winter solstice?

At noon the sun sits just over 6 degrees up; midsummer brings almost 19 hours of daylight.

What is the highest temperature recorded in Helsinki?

Set at Kaisaniemi on 28 July 2019, it edged the 33.1 °C of July 1945; the record low is -34.3 °C.

Which three municipalities join the capital to form the capital region?

Together they hold over 20 percent of Finland's population on 0.2 percent of its land.

What global distinction does greater Helsinki hold?

It is also the northernmost capital of an EU member state.

What is the country's tallest building, completed in Kalasatama in 2019?

The 35-storey, 134 m residential tower led a wave of high-rises after decades of rejected skyscraper plans.

Which Cold War films used Helsinki's neoclassical streets to stand in for the Soviet Union?

The Kremlin Letter also filmed there; the Finnish government quietly told officials not to help such productions.

Which architect designed Finlandia Hall and the Stora Enso headquarters?

Both buildings by the functionalist pioneer have divided local opinion.

Which sea fortress off Helsinki became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991?

Begun by Sweden in 1748 as Sveaborg, it spans eight islands and drew on Vauban's star-fort principles.

Which admiral was given responsibility for building the Sveaborg fortress from 1748?

It was built by the Swedish Crown as a defence against Russia and passed to civilian hands in 1973.

How many islands make up the sea fortress southeast of the city centre?

Six are fortified, and the island with the most fortifications was renamed Kustaanmiekka, 'Gustav's sword'.

How was Temppeliaukio Church, opened in 1969, built?

The Suomalainen brothers left the rough rock walls exposed, giving the 'Rock Church' its acoustics under a copper dome.

How many stainless-steel pipes make up the Sibelius Monument?

Sculptor Eila Hiltunen's welded cluster weighs 24 tonnes; a portrait head was added to placate critics of its abstraction.

Who sculpted the Sibelius Monument, unveiled in 1967?

Her design Passio Musicae won a two-round competition; her welding work challenged 1960s ideas of women in sculpture.

Which fountain sculpture, unveiled in 1908, is a beloved Helsinki landmark?

The Three Smiths dates from 1932 and the equestrian Mannerheim from 1960.

Which title did Helsinki hold in 2012?

The jury praised 'embedded design' behind brands like Nokia, Kone and Marimekko; UNESCO named it a Design City in 2014.

Helsinki hosted the first-ever edition of which championship in 1983?

It hosted again in 2005; the Olympic Stadium had held the first Bandy World Championship in 1957.

Whose 2006 victory brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Helsinki in 2007?

It was the first Eurovision ever staged in Finland, held at the Helsinki Arena.

Which port did Helsinki overtake in 2017 to become the world's busiest passenger port?

Ferries to Tallinn, Stockholm and Mariehamn plus 300-odd cruise calls a year drive the traffic.

When were horse-drawn trams introduced in Helsinki?

The system was electrified in 1900 and now runs 14 routes plus a light-rail line into Espoo.

To which capital has a rail tunnel from Helsinki been proposed?

The link would tie Helsinki into Rail Baltica and the rest of continental Europe.

In which neighbouring city is Helsinki Airport located?

It lies about 17 km north of downtown; the Ring Rail Line gives it a commuter-train station.

Which two football clubs contest the 'Stadin derby'?

HJK is Finland's most successful club; HIFK's ice hockey side has 14 Finnish titles.

Since what year has Helsinki's Market Square held its traditional herring market?

The port city is now one of Northern Europe's leading fish-food capitals.

What is Vappu, celebrated on 1 May?

Helsinki Pride, in the last week of June, drew 100,000 marchers in 2018.

What do locals call Helsinki in slang?

'Hesa' is equally common but marks the speaker as a rural incomer, 'brought by a train'; Helsset is the Northern Sami name.

Which creator of Linux was born in Helsinki in 1969?

Other Helsinki natives include composer Esa-Pekka Salonen and chocolatier Karl Fazer.

How tall is the Yle transmission tower in Pasila, one of the city's best-known landmarks?

On a clear day you can see Tallinn across the gulf from the top.

Helsinki is known as the 'Pearl' of which sea, and also as its 'Daughter'?

The city sits at the tip of a peninsula and across 315 islands.

Which American architect designed the Kiasma modern art museum building?

Kiasma is one of the three museums of the Finnish National Gallery, with the Ateneum and Sinebrychoff.

Helsinki was originally chosen to host the Summer Olympics of which year, before war cancelled them?

The city finally hosted the Games in 1952, as Finland recovered from the Winter and Continuation Wars.

Which international art exhibition drew about 1.4 million people to Senate Square in autumn 2010?

It was Finland's largest open-air art exhibition to that date.

Which 1891 Gothic Revival building is Finland's largest stone place of worship?

Its twin towers rise 74 metres and it seats 2,600 people.