Swedish Theatre

Erottaja (Swedish: 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 measured starting from here. In practice, the square functions as the meeting point of central Helsinki's two famous streets, Esplanadi and Mannerheimintie. The square is the western endpoint of Esplanadi, with the eastern endpoint being at the market square. Mannerheimintie, the longest and most famous street in Helsinki, begins at Erottaja and continues northwest, past the districts of Töölö and Ruskeasuo, until finally merging with a highway leading outside the city. The starting points of both Finnish national roads, the Tampere Highway (E12) and the Lahti Highway (E75), are located approximately in Erottaja. There is also a minor bus station at Erottaja. Very few lines start or end there, most of them start or end at the Kamppi Center or at Rautatientori. The Swedish Theatre (Swedish: Svenska teatern, Finnish: Ruotsalainen teatteri) is located at Erottaja, at the western edge of the Esplanadi park. A sculpture named Usko toivo rakkaus (Swedish: Tro hopp kärlek), meaning "Faith hope love", by Eva Lange, was erected in front of it in September 2019.Erottaja is also famous for being the most expensive lot in the original Finnish edition of Monopoly, even more expensive than Mannerheimintie (the second most expensive lot). This has earned the square fame even outside Helsinki.

Kirjatalo (Swedish: Bokhuset; lit. 'Book House') is a commercial building located on the corner of Pohjoisesplanadi and Keskuskatu in central Helsinki, Finland. It is notable for having been designed by Alvar Aalto. Possibly its best-known resident is the flagship store of the Academic Bookstore chain.

Rautatalo (Swedish: Järnhuset) is an office building in central Helsinki, Finland, completed in 1955, and notable for having been designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.The building is based on Aalto's winning entry, Casa, to a 1951 design contest. It was commissioned for the Finnish Hardware Association, after which it is named: Rautatalo literally translates as 'Iron House' or 'Iron Building'; hardware stores in Finnish being called rautakauppa ('iron shop', compare with 'ironmongers').The exterior character of the building is dark and austere, clad with copper plate on its main façade and brown brick on the side elevation. It was designed to match the height and proportions of the earlier building, created in classical style by Eliel Saarinen, which it abuts on one side (seen in the photo on the right).In contrast to the exterior, the interior is light and airy, making extensive use of white Carrara marble and travertine. At the heart of the interior space is an enclosed atrium, naturally-lit through 40 skylights, known as Marmoripiha ('Marble Courtyard'), with its design inspired by Mediterranean architecture.The lower floors house retail premises, including a café in the atrium space, with offices located on the upper floors.The building's exterior and much of its interior features have protected status.

Domus Litonii (Latin for "the Litonius house") is a three-story Empire style residential, commercial and office building with a lower bazaar wing located at Aleksanterinkatu 50 in central Helsinki, Finland. The building was designed by the master builder Gustaf Leander and it was built from 1845 to 1847. Garden wings were added in 1877 and 1880, and a lower bazaar wing designed by the architect Valter Jung was added on the Keskuskatu side in 1929. The facade on Aleksanterinkatu was modernised in 1936.The building was commissioned by the master draper and furniture manufacturer Jonas Litonius (1810 - 1864), and the Litonius family continues to own and live in the building to this day. The building is the only remaining 19th century residential building in the entire centre of Helsinki.The building is protected by construction law, and it has undergone basic repairs from 1993 to 2003.

Stockmann Helsinki Centre is a culturally significant business building and department store located in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. It is one of many department stores owned by the Stockmann corporation. It is the largest department store in the Nordic countries in terms of area and total sales. The store is known for carrying all the internationally recognised luxury brands, and Stockmann's enjoys a reputation as the primary high-end department store in Finland. Stockmann Delicatessen, the food and beverage department located at the basement level, is renowned for the quality and choice of its foodstuffs. The Stockmann logo represents a set of escalators, which are commonly, but wrongly believed represent the first escalators in Finland. The first escalators in Finland were installed in the Forum department store, Turku (1926). In 2017, Stockmann Helsinki Centre was the fifth largest department store in Europe with area of 50,500 square meters. Especially the clock at the main entrance, colloquially "Stockan kello" ("Stocka's clock"), has become a symbol of Helsinkian city culture as a popular meeting place. Valter Thomé and his brother won the architecture competition for the department store in 1916. The Thomé brothers were killed in the Finnish Civil War. The building was built in 1930, and the task was then given to Sigurd Frosterus who had been on the second place in the original competition. The department store was designed in nordic Art Deco style. It is part of the Gazelle block in the district of Kluuvi. The new expansion of the building is based on Sigurd Frosterus's plans.

DTM (originally Don't Tell Mama) is an LGBT nightclub in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1992, it is the largest gay club in Northern Europe. The venue was initially situated in Helsinki's Kamppi neighborhood, having since relocated twice: first, to Iso Roobertinkatu in Punavuori in 2003, and second, to Mannerheimintie in Kluuvi in 2012. Popular with gay men, DTM also caters to a straight and lesbian customer base. The club's playlists contain primarily pop songs, dance music, techno and Finnish hits, with live entertainment often taking the form of drag shows. Through an agreement with UK-based promoter Klub Kids, DTM began to host visiting performers from RuPaul's Drag Race in January 2019. The establishment has been in a state of temporary closure since June 2020, when it halted operation following a protracted conflict over noise complaints from a neighboring hotel. Its management has stated that it will reopen once a suitable new space is secured.

Keskuskatu (Finnish, Swedish: Centralgatan), meaning "central street", is a two block long walking street in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. Along the street are located, counting from the southern end on Pohjoisesplanadi street, the Stockmann department store, the Rautatalo building, Domus Litonii, WTC Helsinki and the shopping centre City-Center, nicknamed "Makkaratalo" ("sausage house"). Keskuskatu ends at Kaivokatu opposite to the Helsinki Central railway station. Halfway through the street it is crossed by Aleksanterinkatu.

The Eino Leino is a statue of Eino Leino (1878–1926) sculpted by Lauri Leppänen in the Esplanadi Park in Helsinki, Finland. It is located in the northeast corner of Teatteriesplanadi, close to the intersection of the Pohjoisesplanadi and Mikonkatu streets. The statue was unveiled on September 26, 1953, the 63rd anniversary of Leino's publication of his first poem in Hämeen Sanomat. The Eino Leino Society, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the publishing company Otava had declared a memorial competition in 1948, which was decided in 1951 in the second round in favor of Leppänen. Leppänen had personally known Leino while he was alive. Leppänen hoped to place the statue in Taka-Töölö on the corner of the Eino Leinon katu and Topeliuksenkatu streets, but it was placed on the Esplanade. Arvo Turtiainen wrote a poem about the statues in the Esplanadi Park, in which he lamented that Leino was placed halfway between the two restaurants and still spoke to Taru ja Totuus, the girls statue owned for Zachris Topelius.The statue with its pedestal is 4.2 metres (14 ft) high. Engraved on the pedestal of the statue is a verse from Leino's poem Väinämöinen's Song: "One is a song above the others: a harsh song of the spirit of the human ideology". An interesting detail in the statue is its hand, into which a five-mark coin was inserted when it was cast. This is related to the story that Leino stated in his life that he "is not poor as long as he has a mark on his hand".

The World Trade Center Helsinki is a world trade center for financial companies and bureaus, located in central Helsinki, Finland. The building is located on Aleksanterinkatu very close to the main building of the University of Helsinki and to the Stockmann department store. On the first floor, the building houses a branch office of the Nordea bank, an Italian restaurant, and several bars. The architect Pauli E. Blomstedt was just 26 when he won the competition for the design of the building for the Liittopankki (Union Bank) in the Nordic Classicism style. It was completed in 1929.

Kolmikulma (Swedish: Trekanten; literally meaning "Triangle"), also known as the Diana Park, is a small, rectangular triangular-shaped park located in the Kaartinkaupunki district in the city center of Helsinki, Finland. It is limited by the Yrjönkatu, Uudenmaankatu and Erottajankatu streets. The park was renovated in 2006 and 2007. The Kolmikulma Park is located at the intersection of the three districts; although the park belongs to the Kaartinkaupunki district, there is the Punavuori district just southwest of the quarter and the Kamppi district to the northwest. The triangular nature of the park is due to its location on the border of two grid pattern areas in different directions. The houses surrounding the block were built mainly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For a long time, the National Board of Customs operated in the house north of the park. On Yrjönkatu, next to the park, there was a movie theatre Diana for 25 years and then a cinema called Lasten Cinema. The Swedish-language children's theater Unga Teatern operates in the same space.In the park there is a sculpture of Tellervo, daughter of Tapio, designed by sculptor Yrjö Liipola and completed in 1928, which depicts the goddess of the forest Tellervo throwing a spear. The statue is also commonly referred to as Diana, the goddess of the hunting of ancient legends, which is why the park is named the Diana Park.Tram line 10 (Surgical Hospital–Pikku Huopalahti) runs along Erottajankatu and bus line 24 (Ullanlinna–Seurasaari) runs along Erottajankatu to the north, Uudenmaankatu and Yrjönkatu to the south. In 2008–2012, there was also the end of tram line 9 leading to East Pasila at the edge of the park. Another of the starting points of the Crown Bridges tram connection to the center of Helsinki is planned for Kolmikulma.

Hotel Marski (or Marski by Scandic) is a hotel opened 1962 on Mannerheimintie 10 in Helsinki, Finland. The hotel was built by Alko-owned Arctia Oy and the nine-storey building with strip windows was designed in 1961 by architect Einari Teräsvirta. The hotel was housed in a residential building built in 1877 by Nikolai Kiseleff and designed by F. A. Sjöström. The name Marski (as well as the street name along which the hotel is located) refers to Marshal Mannerheim.Hotel Marski was opened on February 1, 1962. At that time, the hotel had 58 rooms located on the sixth and seventh floors of the house. On the lower floors was the restaurant, the department store Otra, which was reached by escalator, and the office space of the Kansallis-Osake-Pankki (KOP). The eighth floor was leased to the oil company Shell. The number of hotel rooms increased in the 1970s and 1990s as the hotel expanded into other buildings in the block. The furniture designers of the hotel and restaurant included Ilmari Tapiovaara.Hotel Marski was a meeting place for Finland's political elite for a long time, and President Urho Kekkonen, among others, was a regular guest. Until the 1980s, the building housed the M-Club, which was only open to club members. In addition, the building housed the Helsinki International Press Club, founded by the Helsinki Newspaper Association in 1962 or so-called Press club.In 2010, the property was purchased by Valio Pension Fund, with Alko Pension Fund as the seller. The hotel then had 222 rooms. The hotel was renovated between 2018 and 2019 and reopened in early summer 2019. The hotel now has a total of 363 rooms.Kahvila 7.01, a cafeteria located on the street level of the hotel, is named after Mannerheim, known as a regular man; Mannerheim reportedly wanted to drink his morning coffee at exactly one minute over seven in the morning.

The Three Smiths Statue is a sculpture by Felix Nylund, situated in Helsinki, Finland, in Three Smiths Square at the intersection of Aleksanterinkatu and Mannerheimintie. This realistic statue, unveiled in 1932, depicts three naked smiths hammering on an anvil. Felix Nylund submitted a design for a smith statue for a memorial for Johan Vilhelm Snellman in 1913. In 1919 he designed a monumental statue with three smiths located on top of a stone pillar ten metres high. Neither of these designs was actually made into a statue, but Nylund took advantage of his previous designs when sculpting the Three Smiths Statue. Of the three smiths depicted in the statue, one is a master smith holding the iron on an anvil. The other two smiths are hammering on the iron. Nylund used wrestlers from the gymnastics and sports club Jyry as models for the smiths' bodies. The master smith has the face of poet Arvid Mörne, the smith holding his hammer up has Nylund's own face, and the smith holding his hammer down has the face of sculptor Aku Nuutinen. It is said that mason Paavo Koskinen and police officer Sundström posed as models for the bodies. The top part of the bronze statue's granite base is encircled by the Latin text MONUMENTUM – CURAVIT – LEGATUM – J. TALLBERGIANUM – PRO HELSINGFORS A.D. MCMXXXII ("The statue was erected with the help of a donation from J. Tallberg by Pro Helsingfors in the year 1932"). The statue was donated to the city of Helsinki by the Pro Helsingfors foundation, which had acquired it with the help of a monetary donation by the businessman Julius Tallberg. Tallberg's commerce house is situated at the northern end of the Three Smiths Square. The statue was damaged in a bombing during the Continuation War in 1944. Marks of the damage can still be seen in the base of the statue, and the anvil has a hole caused by a bomb shrapnel. The Three Smiths Square is a popular meeting place. There is a heating system underneath Aleksanterinkatu keeping the street free from snow and ice even in temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius. The heat comes from warm water flowing from the nearby buildings. Thus people can sit at the statue even in wintertime. Upon close investigation of the statue, it can be seen that the positions of the smiths are more artistic than realistic: the smiths are standing so close to each other that if they were to actually hammer, they would hit each other on the head instead of the anvil. The original gypsum models of the statue have been located in the library of the Finnish Workers' Academy in Kauniainen.Nowadays the statue is annually capped with Santa Claus hats at the end of November at the Wappujoulu event of the University of Helsinki student organisation Limes.In spring 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic surgical masks were placed on the smiths and an effigy of the Coronavirus was placed on the anvil so it looked like the smiths were hammering down on the virus.