Siege of Sveaborg

The Governing Body of Suomenlinna (Finnish: Suomenlinnan hoitokunta) is a bureau belonging to the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland, whose task is to restore, maintain, demonstrate and govern the island fortress of Suomenlinna, a Unesco World Heritage, in Helsinki, Finland. The governing body was founded in 1973 when ownership of Suomenlinna was transferred from the Finnish Defence Forces to a civilian government. The organisation is divided into four units, consisting of government, maintenance, world heritage and restoration services.

The Battle of Suomenlinna (also known as the Battle of Viapori or the Bombardment of Sweaborg) was fought on 9–11 August 1855 between Russian defenders and a joint British/French fleet during the Åland War. It was a part of the Crimean War.

The Suomenlinna Church (Finnish: Suomenlinnan kirkko, Swedish: Sveaborgs kyrka) in Helsinki, Finland, was built in 1854 as an Eastern Orthodox garrison church for the Russian troops stationed at the Suomenlinna sea fortress. The fortress comprises five islands joined together by bridges, and the church is the central feature on the island of Iso Mustasaari (Swedish: Stora Östersvartö), located at its highest point. It is surrounded by other fortress buildings, but the old parade ground is immediately to the east, and a park lies immediately to the south. It is oriented southwest to northeast so that it would align with the Crownwork Ehrensvärd defense front located to the southwest of the church. Before the design and construction of the Orthodox church, plans were drawn up in the 1820s by architect Carl Ludvig Engel for a church on the same site, but designed in the neoclassical style in keeping with the rest of buildings at the fortress and the buildings in the capital city, Helsinki. The actual church was designed by Konstantin Thon, an official architect of Imperial Russia during the reign of Czar Nicholas I, whose major works included the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Grand Kremlin Palace, and the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. The church was named for Saint/Prince Alexander Nevsky, who defeated the Swedes at the Neva battle of 1240. The Alexander Nevsky Church originally had five onion domes. The perimeter fence, constructed from cannons and chains, was erected in the 1870s. The church bell, the largest in Finland, was cast in Moscow in 1885 and weighs 6,683 kilograms. It is now displayed adjacent to the church. The church was elevated to the status of cathedral within the Orthodox faith in 1891. In 1918 the Orthodox church was converted into an Evangelical Lutheran church, as Finland sought to indicate its new-found independence from Russia. The onion domes of the four smaller towers were immediately removed. The church's extensive iconography was warehoused by the city of Helsinki, but their current whereabouts are unknown. During the 1920s, it was decided to give the church an extensive renovation for structural repair as well as incorporation of a more Western design. The design competition was won by architect Einar Sjöström, and the finished church was reconsecrated on 28 April 1929. Another interesting feature from the renovation is that the church's central dome has doubled as a lighthouse since 1929, making it one of only a few churches in the world that has that dual purpose. The lighthouse is officially the Harmaja Range Rear light, and it pairs with the Harmaja lighthouse (4.8 km south in the Gulf of Finland) as the Range Front light. The signal blink is the Morse code for the letter "H" for Helsinki. Additional renovations have been made in the 1960s (after the church was turned over to the Evangelical Lutheran Parish Union of Helsinki), and again in the late 1980s and 1990s in preparation for the 250th anniversary of Suomenlinna in 1998. The Suomenlinna Church is still a very popular wedding site and one of the first landmarks for people arriving in Helsinki by sea.

The Military Museum of Finland (Finnish: Sotamuseo) is the central museum of the Finnish Defence Forces and the national special museum of military history. It is located in Helsinki and it is part of the Finnish National Defence University. In 2018, the Military Museum's exhibitions in Suomenlinna had around 131,000 visitors. The most popular exhibition is the submarine Vesikko, visited by around 50,000 people annually. Military Museum's exhibitions in Suomenlinna are located at Manege and Artillery Maneage.The Military Museum's task is to collect, preserve, research and display artifacts and other heritage related to the development of the Defence Forces of Finland, Finland's military history and to the history of weaponry. As of 2016, the museum's exhibition locations at Liisankatu 1 and Maurinkatu 1 are closed.

The Ehrensvärd grave is the final resting place and memorial of Augustin Ehrensvärd, the founder of the Suomenlinna island fortress in Helsinki, Finland, at the Linnanpiha yard on the island of Susisaari in Suomenlinna. Ehrensvärd was buried at the yard in 1783 but the memorial was only completed in its current form in 1805.After Ehrensvärd's death in 1772 king Gustaf III of Sweden gave an order that he should be buried at the yard at the heart of the fortress of Sveaborg (later known in Finnish as Suomenlinna). Construction of the tomb took eleven years, during which time the body of Ehrensvärd rested in a temporary grave at the cemetery of the Ulrika Elonora Church in Helsinki. Ehrensvärd's coffin was moved to Suomenlinna and placed into the fortress tomb on 5 July 1783 in a solemn event attended by the king himself.

Suomenlinna (Finnish: [ˈsuo̯menˌlinːɑ]; until 1918 Viapori, Finnish: [ˈviaˌpori]), or Sveaborg (Swedish: [ˈsvɛːɑˈborj]), is an inhabited sea fortress built on eight islands about 4 km southeast of the city center of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Suomenlinna is popular with tourists and locals who enjoy it as a picturesque picnic site. Originally named Sveaborg (Castle of the Swedes), or Viapori as referred to by Finnish-speaking Finns, it was renamed in Finnish to Suomenlinna (Castle of Finland) in 1918 for patriotic and nationalistic reasons, though it is still known by its original name in Sweden and by Swedish-speaking Finns. The Swedish crown commenced the construction of the fortress in 1748 as protection against Russian expansionism. The general responsibility for the fortification work was given to Augustin Ehrensvärd. The original plan of the bastion fortress was strongly influenced by the ideas of Vauban, the foremost military engineer of the time, and the principles of the star fort style of fortification, albeit adapted to a group of rocky islands. Famous for these bastion fortifications, Suomenlinna became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.During the Finnish War, Sweden surrendered the fortress to Russia on 3 May 1808, paving the way for the occupation of Finland by Russian forces in 1809, and the eventual cession of Finland to Russia at the conclusion of the war. Russia held the fortress until Finnish independence in 1918. Finland then managed Suomenlinna through the Defense Department until turning most of it over to civilian control in 1973.

Suomenlinna prison camp (Finnish: Suomenlinnan vankileiri, Swedish: Sveaborgs fångläger) was a 1918 Civil War of Finland concentration camp in the Suomenlinna Fortress, Helsinki. It was established by the White Army for the Red Guard fighters taken prisoner after the Battle of Helsinki. The camp operated from April 1918 to March 1919. It was a subcamp for the Helsinki prison camp, which included the camps of Suomenlinna, Santahamina, Katajanokka and Isosaari.

Järvitaipalle Fortress is part of the fortifications of southeastern Finland, designed and built by General Alexander Suvorov, located in Savitaipalle, about 40 km from Kärnäkoski Fortress.

The Suomenlinna prison is an open prison in Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Finland, founded in 1971. It was previously known as the Suomenlinna penal colony. The prison is located at the southern tip of the island of Iso-Mustasaari. The prison was founded to help in the repair and restoration work of the Suomenlinna fortress; the prison co-operates with the Governing Body of Suomenlinna belonging to the Finnish Ministry of Education. Prisoners in the open prison, nicknamed Konnala (roughly translated as "Crook-land") work on weekdays in various jobs all over the island, under supervision. Most particularly they repair the buildings and stonework in Suomenlinna or maintain the scenery.In 2017 the average number of prisoners was 137. There are places for 100 prisoners. Prisoners at the Suomenlinna prison are usually near the end of serving their sentences. Some of the prisoners are also studying while serving their sentences.The prison employs about 30 people. The manager of the prison is Sinikka Saarela.

Vesikko is a submarine, which was launched on 10 May 1933 at the Crichton-Vulcan dock in Turku. Until 1936 it was named by its manufacturing codename CV 707. Vesikko was ordered by a Dutch engineering company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (a German front company) in 1930 as a commercial submarine prototype, being the prototype for the German Type II submarines. Purchased by the Finnish before World War II, she saw service in the Winter War and Continuation War, sinking the Soviet merchant ship Vyborg as her only victory. After the cease-fire with the Allies in 1944, Vesikko was retired. Finland was banned from operating submarines after the war and she was kept in storage until she was turned into a museum ship. Vesikko was one of five submarines to serve in the Finnish Navy. The other four were the three larger Vetehinen-class boats Vetehinen, Vesihiisi, Iku-Turso and the small Saukko. The word "vesikko" is the Finnish name for the European mink.

Lonna (Swedish: Lonnan) is a small island off Helsinki, opposite the Suomenlinna ferry terminal. The island belongs to the Suomenlinna district. Lonna is about 150 meters long and the distance to the mainland is about 1.5 kilometers.The island was used by the Finnish Defence Forces until the beginning of the 21st century. Renovation of the island for other uses began in the 21st century, and in 2014 the island was opened to the public. The island currently has a summer and bespoke restaurant, an event space and a public sauna. The island is served by a tourist ferry.

Kuninkaanportti or Kungsporten (Finnish and Swedish respectively for "the king's gate") is the principal entrance to the fortress Suomenlinna (Swedish: Sveaborg) outside Helsinki. It is on the southernmost island of Suomenlinna, in front of the Kustaanmiekka strait, and is considered the main symbol of Suomenlinna. The gate was constructed from 1753 to 1754 at the place where King Adolf Frederick of Sweden anchored his ship when he was coming to inspect the construction of the fortress. The name "the king's gate" comes from this. The gate is a typical fortress gate with cannon openings. There are wide stairs leading to the gate, but in front of the gate is a drawbridge and a wide pit at both sides, to hinder climbing into the fortress. The gate was featured in the 1000 Finnish mark note in the last series, from 1986 to 2001. As a decoration, the sides of the gate feature four stone tablets which were written by the designer of the fortress, Augustin Ehrensvärd, in Swedish: Här har konung Fredrik låtit läggs den första sten år 1748 ("Here laid King Frederick the first stone in the year 1748") Och konung Gustaf har lagt den sista sten år .. ("And here laid King Gustav the last stone in the year", the year is left unwritten, because Gustav III never arrived to lay the last stone) Sveaborg som rörer hafvet på den ena sidan och stranden på den andra, giver den kloke herravälde på både haf och land ("Sveaborg (Suomenlinna), which touches the sea on one side and the shore on the other, gives the wise control both on sea and on land.") Ifrån ödemarker äro desse Vargskiärsholmar ombytte till ett Sveaborg. Eftervard, stå här på egen botn, och lita icke på främmande hielp. ("From desolate lands, these Wolf Islands have been transformed into a Sveaborg (Suomenlinna). Progeny, stand here on your own foundation, and do not rely on foreign help.")