1,160,752,140 visitors served.

Helsinki

Capital and port of Finland; population (2003 est) 582,600, urban agglomeration 1,162,900. Sheltered by islands, the city is a natural seaport and is the commercial, administrative, and intellectual centre of Finland. Industries include shipbuilding, engineering, machinery, food processing, electronics and textiles. It is also the country's main tourist centre, and is linked by ferry with Stockholm, Tallinn, and St Petersburg. The port is kept open by icebreakers in winter.

History

Helsinki was founded in 1550 by King Gustavus Vasa of Sweden, north of its present location. The city was devastated by a great fire in 1808; it was rebuilt as a well-planned, spacious metropol is, which includes the architecture of Alvar Aalto. After Finland was ceded to Russia in 1809, Helsinki became capital of the grand duchy in 1812 and remained the capital after independence in 1917.

Features The city contains the parliament house, an 18th-century cathedral, many buildings by the German-born architect Carl Ludwig Engel of the early 19th century, and many in national Romantic style from around 1900, including the railway station designed by Eliel Saarinen. The homes of the architect Saarinen and the composer Jean Sibelius outside the city are museums. Suomenlinna fortress, 3.2 km/2 mi southeast of the city, is a tourist attraction. The pale colour of the local building material has given Helsinki the name of the ‘white city of Europe’.

Belshazzar's Feast Berglund, Paavo

Finland Helsingfors

Kajanus, Robert Kokkonen, Joonas

Madetoja, Leevi (Antti) Ollila, Jorma Jaakko

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Saarinen, (Gottlieb) Eliel