Helsinki

Helsinki, capital and largest city of Finland. It is the leading seaport and industrial city of the country. Helsinki lies in the far south of Finland, on a peninsula fringed by fine natural harbors that protrudes into the Gulf of Finland. The most northerly of continental European capitals, Helsinki is often called the “white city of the north,” because many of its buildings are constructed of a local light-colored granite.

History

Helsinki was founded as Helsingfors in 1550 by King Gustav I Vasa of Sweden and was intended to compete in the Baltic trade with the Hanseatic city of Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia), which lies on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki was originally located at the mouth of the Vantaa River, at a point about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the city’s present location. It was moved down to the latter site in 1640 in order to obtain more-open access to the sea. From early on the town was important for military reasons. It became a naval base and a center for the defense of Finland’s southern coast. In the early 1700s it served as a base for Sweden’s war with Russia and Poland. The town was ravaged by a plague in 1710 and burned to the ground in 1713. Its redevelopment was hindered by Russian attacks later in the 18th century, but in 1748 the settlement became more secure when a fortress, called Sveaborg in Swedish and Viapori (later Suomenlinna) in Finnish, was constructed on a group of small islands southeast of the town.

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As a result of Russia’s war with Sweden in 1808–09, Finland was ceded to Russia. In 1812, partly in order to diminish Swedish influence, the Russian tsar Alexander I moved the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Turku (Åbo), which had been the capital under Swedish rule, to Helsinki.

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Helsinki thus changed from a small town into a regional capital, and this brought about a significant transformation. In addition, the city had burned down during the 1808–09 war, so most of it needed to be rebuilt. Consequently, Helsinki was architecturally transformed in the succeeding decades. The center was completely reconstructed under the influence of the German-born architect Carl Ludvig Engel, who designed a number of impressive public buildings in the Neoclassical style during the period 1816–40. These include the state council building, the main building of Helsinki University, and the Lutheran cathedral, known as the Great Church, completed in 1852. All of these structures surround the broad expanse of Senate Square. The university, originally founded in Turku in 1640, was moved to Helsinki in 1828. Near the waterfront rise the cupolas of the Uspenski Cathedral, the largest Orthodox church in western Europe, which was completed in 1868.

Once Helsinki became the capital of Finland, its population increased rapidly, from a mere 4,000 in 1810 to 56,000 in 1890 and to more than 100,000 during the first decade of the 20th century. In December 1917 Finland declared its independence from Russia, and a brief but bloody civil war ensued. Helsinki saw one of the main urban battles, which took place between conservative government troops (known as the Whites) and leftist rebel units (known as the Reds) occupying the city. Conditions soon stabilized, however, and the Helsinki parliament elected Finland’s first president in 1919. In subsequent decades Helsinki developed into an important center of trade, industry, and culture—a process interrupted only by World War II.

The postwar period brought rapid growth. After 1950 the economy boomed, Finland’s population increased, and many people migrated to the rapidly modernizing city. In the 1960s the population of Helsinki increased to more than 500,000. Over the course of the century, the Finnish language became increasingly dominant in Helsinki; indeed, 75 percent of residents spoke Finnish as their first language as of 2023.

The contemporary city

Helsinki’s economic life and development is based on its excellent harbors and on good railway and road connections to the extensive interior of the country. More than half of Finland’s total imports consequently pass through the port of Helsinki. Only a small proportion of the national exports, however, pass through Helsinki, as the largest export ports are elsewhere along the Finnish coast. Helsinki’s main industries include food, metal and chemical processing, printing, textiles, clothing, and manufacture of electrical equipment. The wares of the Arabia porcelain factory, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, are internationally known.

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Helsinki has theaters, an opera and ballet company, and several symphony orchestras. An annual Helsinki festival features world-famous orchestras and artists and a program of rich variety. In addition to museums and galleries, cultural landmarks include a modern city theater by Timo Penttilä and a concert building by Alvar Aalto. Other architectural features of the city are the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, built for the 1952 Olympic Games, and the railway station (1914), designed by Eliel Saarinen. Helsinki University is the second largest university in Scandinavia. Pop. (2020 est.) city, 656,920; urban agglom., 1,298,955.