Helsinki urban area

Helsinki ( HEL-sink-ee or (listen) hel-SINK-ee; Finnish: [ˈhelsiŋki] (listen); Swedish: Helsingfors, Finland Swedish: [helsiŋˈforsː] (listen); Latin: Helsingia) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of 658,864. The city's urban area has a population of 1,268,296, making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland as well as the country's most important center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research; while Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region, located 179 kilometres (111 mi) to the north from Helsinki, is the second largest urban area in Finland. Helsinki is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 km (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has close historical ties with these three cities. Together with the cities of Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen (and surrounding commuter towns, including the eastern neighboring municipality of Sipoo), Helsinki forms the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which has a population of over 1.5 million. Often considered to be Finland's only metropolis, it is the world's northernmost metro area with over one million people as well as the northernmost capital of an EU member state. After Copenhagen and Stockholm, Helsinki is the third largest municipality in the Nordic countries. Finnish and Swedish are both official languages. The city is served by the international Helsinki Airport, located in the neighboring city of Vantaa, with frequent service to many destinations in Europe and Asia. Helsinki was the World Design Capital for 2012, the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the host of the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest in 2007. Helsinki has one of the world's highest standards of urban living. In 2011, the British magazine Monocle ranked Helsinki the world's most liveable city in its liveable cities index. In the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2016 liveability survey, Helsinki was ranked ninth among 140 cities. In July 2021, the American magazine Time ranked Helsinki one of the greatest places in the world in 2021 as a city that "can grow into a sprouting cultural nest in the future," and which has already been known in the world as an environmental pioneer. An international Cities of Choice survey conducted in 2021 by the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group and the BCG Henderson Institute raised Helsinki the third best city in the world to live, with London and New York City ranking the first and the second. Also, together with Rovaniemi in the Lapland region, Helsinki is one of Finland's most significant tourist cities in terms of foreign tourism.

Lasipalatsi (Swedish: Glaspalatset; meaning literally "glass palace") is a functionalist office building designed in the 1930s, located on Mannerheimintie in the Kamppi district of Helsinki, Finland. Lasipalatsi is one of Helsinki's most notable functionalist buildings.

Kiasma is a contemporary art museum located on Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, Finland. Its name kiasma, Finnish for chiasma, alludes to the basic conceptual idea of its architect, Steven Holl. Kiasma is part of the Finnish National Gallery, and it is responsible for the gallery's contemporary art collection. Its central goal is to showcase contemporary art and to strengthen its status.

Library 10 (Finnish: Kirjasto 10; Swedish: Bibliotek 10) was a music and information technology space for the Helsinki City Library system from 2005 to 2018 in the Postitalo building in the center of Helsinki. When it closed on 30 September 2018, Library 10's services were transferred to the new Helsinki Central Library Oodi, which opened on 5 December 2018.Library 10 had the largest collection of music in the Helsinki City Library system, including recordings, sheet music and books inherited from the Music Station (Finnish: Musiikkiasemalta), which previously been maintained at the main City Library in Pasila. Its IT functions, as well as the collections of comics, film books, and travel guides, were inherited from the library's Kirjakaapeli experimental office.In 2008, Library 10 had some 600,000 visitors, mostly male and mostly between the ages of 19 and 35. About 20 percent of Library 10's 800 m2 (8,600 sq ft) of floor space was devoted to physical collections versus 80 percent to people. Of this area, 56 m2 (600 sq ft) was devoted to 12 m2 (130 sq ft) suites for audio editing, video editing, recording, and listening, along with a 20 m2 (220 sq ft) meeting room. An additional 25 m2 (270 sq ft) stage/performance space was also available, doubling as reading space with chairs and tables when events were not occurring. Beyond its public space, Library 10 had an additional 170 m2 (1,800 sq ft) of administrative and storage space.The library regularly hosted events, such as exhibitions, concerts, panels, and presentations. Library 10 was also known for its other innovative projects, including a public 3D printer. Operating as a makerspace, Library 10 included not just recording equipment and 3D printers, but also classes training people to use them.

Finnish National Gallery (Finnish: Suomen Kansallisgalleria, Swedish: Finlands Nationalgalleri) is the largest art museum institution of Finland. It consists of the Ateneum, an art museum; Kiasma, a contemporary art museum; and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, a historic house and art museum.The organization's functions are supported by the conservation department, the administration and services department and Kehys, the art museum development department.

A bronze equestrian statue of Gustaf Mannerheim, the Marshal of Finland, stands in centre of Helsinki, Finland. It was made by Aimo Tukiainen and erected in 1960. The bronze statue is 5.4 m tall. It is raised on a granite podium, 6.3 m tall, 6.3 m long and 2.72 m wide.Mannerheim was a symbolic figure in Finland at since the Finnish Civil War 1918 as a general, and his position grew stronger during the Second World War as a field marshal. The first plans and fundraising for an equestrian statue started already in 1937. After his death in 1951 the plans were relaunched by initiative of the Helsinki University Students' Union. During the fundraising campaign 737 503 members of public donated over 78 million marks in 1952. The funds were sufficient for not only the statue but also for purchasing the Louhisaari mansion in Askainen, Mannerheim's place of birth, which was turned into a museum.The statue was commissioned from Aimo Tukiainen after a competition. Tukiainen made a realistic and detailed statue of the horse-riding Mannerheim. At its unveiling in 1960 the art world considered it out-dated. In his contemporary works Tukiainen himself had already moved on from realism.The features of the horse, its gait and which of the Marshal's horses it actually represents have been discussed a lot. During his life Mannerheim owned several horses. Tukiainen studied Mannerheim's last horse Käthy when working on the statue, but it is not a portrait of her as such.The construction of the Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art next to the statue was debated during the time of construction of the museum.

Forum is a shopping centre in Helsinki, Finland, opened in 1985 and located between the streets of Mannerheimintie, Simonkatu, Yrjönkatu and Kalevankatu. The original Forum building is located in the corner of Mannerheimintie and Simonkatu. The shopping centre has been constantly expanded to also fill other buildings in the city block. The shopping centre includes an underground parking lot, with connections to the nearby surroundings, including to Stockmann. As well as numerous businesses, the Forum city block includes the privately owned Amos Anderson art museum and the Forum medical and dental health centre. Forum is the only privately owned shopping centre in the Finnish capital area. Bilinguality is emphasised in the shopping centre, because it is owned by Finland-Swedish organisations, most notably Föreningen Konstsamfundet, which was founded in 1940 by Amos Anderson. The organisation supports Finland-Swedish culture and publications, and deals out grants, which amount up to 3 million euro per year. This is financed by the rent from the Forum shopping centre building.

The J. K. Paasikivi memorial, also called Itä ja Länsi (Finnish for "East and West") is a memorial sculpture for President of Finland Juho Kusti Paasikivi by sculptor Harry Kivijärvi, located in Kamppi, Helsinki, Finland. The sculpture is located at the Paasikivenaukio square along Mannerheimintie in front of the so-called Supplier House, north of the Lasipalatsi building. The sculpture was revealed in 1980.

Sanomatalo (Swedish: Sanomahuset) is a commercial and office building in central Helsinki, Finland, to the north of Postitalo and the Helsinki Central railway station and to the south of the Helsinki Music Centre. It has twelve floors of which three are underground. The building was designed by professor Jan Söderlund and architect Antti-Matti Siikala and it was completed in 1999. It was the first "glassy" building in Helsinki, and environmentalists protested against the glass walls because they might cause bird deaths. There have also been protests against the building because it had two additional floors built contrary to the zoning plan.Sanoma sold the building in 2014 to a German building fund for a sum of 176 million Euro and remained in the building as a tenant.The offices of Helsingin Sanomat, Ilta-Sanomat, Taloussanomat, Radio Rock, Radio Suomipop, Loop, Helmiradio, HitMix, and Me Naiset Radio are located in open offices at the top floors of the building. The two lower floors are commercial and exhibition spaces: they include for example an R-kioski branch. The building also has a blood donation point of the Finnish Red Cross. The addresses of the building are Töölönlahdenkatu 2, Alvar Aallon kuja 2, and Postikuja 2.

The Turku barracks was a barracks building for the military of Russia built in 1833 in Kamppi, Helsinki, Finland, along the street Läntinen Henrikinkatu (now known as Mannerheimintie).

Vltava is the largest Czech restaurant in Finland, located in central Helsinki. It was opened in spring 2005 to a Jugend architecture building protected by the Finnish National Board of Antiquities, located on the Elielinaukio square, between the Helsinki Central railway station and the main building of the Finnish post office. The name of the restaurant comes from the Vltava river (Moldau in German), running through Prague and the Czech Republic. The restaurant is owned by HOK-Elanto.

The Kamppi Chapel (Finnish: Kampin kappeli, Swedish: Kampens kapell) is a chapel in Kamppi, Helsinki, located on the Narinkka Square. It is also known as the "Chapel of Silence" since it is intended to be a place to calm down and have a moment of silence in one of the busiest areas in Finland.The chapel is operated on a partnership basis by the Helsinki Parish Union and the Social Services Department of the City of Helsinki, while the parish unions of the neighbouring cities of Espoo and Vantaa also participate in the chapel's activities. Regular church services are not being held in the chapel, though it is planned to hold regular moments of prayer in the future.