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Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 562,570 (31.06.2006). The Helsinki urban region contains ... more »
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Airports Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 562,570 (31.06.2006). The Helsinki urban region contains the neighboring cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, which are together called the Capital Region This area has a total population of about 992,836 citizens. The Greater Helsinki area contains several more neighboring cities and has a population of about 1,293,093, this means one out of every four Finns live in the Greater Helsinki area.
Helsinki is Finland's international gateway. The city is the country's nerve center for business, finance, fashion, medicine, entertainment, media, culture and intellectual discourse. There is a large and varied collection of museums, galleries and performance spaces. The biggest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, Helsingin Sanomat, is published daily out of Helsinki. The city has Finland's largest foreign population in terms of real numbers and percentage of population. There are over 130 nationalities resident in Helsinki. Of these, the largest group include citizens from Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Somalia, Serbia, China, Iraq and Germany. Currently, Helsinki finds itself under the spotlight of global interest during which Finland hosts the European Union's revolving EU presidency. The presidency will last for 6 months from July 1st to December 31st 2006. Helsinki will also host the 52nd annual Eurovision Song Contest in May 2007.
The economy of Helsinki is primarily service-based, having gradually moved away from heavy industry. Most large Finnish companies have their headoffices and other important functions in the Helsinki metropolitan area, primarily due to international connections, logistics network and workforce availability. It is also the often-favoured choice as a location for regional headoffice of international companies operating in the country. Information technology and financing sectors form the backbone of Helsinki's economy.
Helsinki spreads around a number of bays and peninsulas and over a number of islands. The inner city area occupies a southern peninsula, which is rarely referred to by its actual name Vironniemi. Population density in certain parts of Helsinki's inner city area is very high, reaching 16 494/km² in the district of Kallio, but as a whole Helsinki's population density of 3050/km² ranks it as quite sparsely populated in comparison to other European capital cities. Much of Helsinki outside the inner city area consists of postwar suburbs separated from each other by patches of forests. A narrow, ten kilometer long Helsinki Central Park that streches from the inner city to the northern border of Helsinki is an important recreational area for the residents.
Helsinki is small and intimate; lively but not bustling. Its size makes it easy to walk around and cafés, markets, and the nearby islands are its summer delights.
Because Helsinki is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea and has many kilometres of coastline, most of its central districts are near the seaside. Helsinki is a very maritime city and is popularly called the daughter of the Baltic.
Air travel to Helsinki is via the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, situated in the neighbouring town of Vantaa, a town part of Greater Helsinki. Helsinki also has popular cruiseferry links with Stockholm, Sweden and hydrofoil and catamaran links to Tallinn, Estonia. Silja, Viking and Tallink are the biggest ferry operators.
In Helsinki, public transportation is mostly managed under Helsinki City Transport, the city's transportation authority. The diverse public transport system consists of street cars, light commuter rail, the subway and bus lines. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council manages traffic to the surrounding municipalities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen.
Today, Helsinki is the only city in Finland to have streetcars or subway trains. There used to be two other cities in Finland with streetcar traffic: Turku and Viipuri (Vyborg). However, Turku abandoned trams in 1972 and Viipuri (at that time already part of the Soviet Union) abandoned them in 1957.
The subway line, opened in 1982, was the first, and so far the only, subway line in all of Finland. For the first 16 years of its existence, the line was topologically only one straight line, but in 1998 a fork was added at Itäkeskus metro station, dividing the remainder of the line into two branches with three stations each. The subway system is a very important method of transportation for commuters in the growing suburbs of Eastern Helsinki, and there are plans to further expand the system to Espoo. Due to the lack of agreement over financing, the project has subsequently been delayed. Some have suggested light-rail as an alternative to the metro. If the plans for automation in the system are approved, the subway will operate without drivers in 2010.
Air traffic is handled from the international Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and Malmi Airport. Helsinki-Vantaa airport is Finland's global gateway with scheduled non-stop flights to such places as New York, Miami, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. Helsinki has an optimal location for great circle airline traffic routes between Western Europe and the Far East. The airport is located approximately 19 kilometers north of Helsinki's downtown area. The airport is located in Helsinki's northern suburb of Vantaa, thus the name Helsinki-Vantaa.
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Ferry connections to Tallinn and Stockholm are serviced by various companies, including Silja Line, Viking Line, SeaWind Line, Linda Line, Nordic Jet Line and Tallink. Finnlines passenger-freight ferries to Travemünde, Germany are also available. Copterline provides fast helicopter flights to Tallinn.
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Founded in 1550 as a rival to the Hanseatic city of Reval (today: Tallinn) by King Gustav I of Sweden, the town of Helsingfors struggled in its infancy. The fledging settlement was plagued by poverty, wars, and diseases. For a long time it remained as a small low-key coastal town, overshadowed by the more thriving trade centers in the Baltic region. Construction of the Sveaborg (today also: Suomenlinna) sea fortress helped to improve its status, but it was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809, that Helsinki began to truly change.
To help reduce the Swedish influence, Tsar Alexander I of Russia had the capital moved from Turku (also Åbo) to Helsingfors. The Academy of Åbo, the only university in the country, was also relocated to Helsinki in 1827, eventually becoming the University of Helsinki. This move consolidated the city's new role and the following decades saw unprecedented growth and development for the city, creating the prerequisites for the birth of a modern world class capital in the 20th century. This transformation is highly apparent in the downtown core, which was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble St. Petersburg. As elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were a key factor behind the growth.
In the 1918 Finnish Civil War, most of Helsinki fell to the Red Guards along with rest of southern Finland after brief fighting in January. The Senate was relocated to Vaasa, although some senators and officials remained hiding in the capital. After the tide of war turned against the Red forces, German troops fighting on the same side with the Finnish White Guard recaptured Helsinki in April. Unlike Tampere, Helsinki suffered relatively little damage in the war. After the White victory many former Red soldiers and collaborators were confined in prison camps across the country. The largest, having approximately 13,300 prisoners, was located on the former naval fortress island of Suomenlinna in Helsinki. Although the civil war left a considerable mark on the society, the standard of living in the country and the city began to improve in the following decade. Renowned architects such as Eliel Saarinen created utopistic plans for Helsinki, but they were never realized in their full extent.
In the aerial bombings of the Winter War (1939-40) and the Continuation War (1941-44) Helsinki was attacked by Soviet bombers. Most intense air raids took place in the spring of 1944, when over two thousand Soviet planes dropped over 16,000 bombs in and around the city. However, due to successful air defense the city was spared from the large-scale destruction that many other cities in Europe under similar scale bombings had suffered. Only a few bombs hit populated areas.
Although much of the first half of the 20th century was a violent period for Helsinki it continued to steadily develop. Modern postwar urbanization of the 1970s, which occurred relatively late in the European context, tripled the population in the metropolitan area, making the Helsinki metropolitan area one of the fastest growing urban centers in the European Union in the 1990s.
Helsinki can also be considered Finland's culture-capital.
Biggest historical museum in Helsinki is the National Museum of Finland, which displays a vast historical collection from prehistoric times to the 21th century. The museum building itself, a national romantic style neo-medieval castle, is a tourist attraction. Other major historical museum is the Helsinki City Museum, which introduces visitors to Helsinki's 500 year history. The University of Helsinki also has many significant museums, including the University Museum and the Natural History Museum.
The Finnish National Gallery consists on three museums: Ateneum Art Museum for classical Finnish art, Sinebrychoff Art Museum for classical European art, and Kiasma Art Museum for modern art. The old Ateneum, a neo-renessaince palace from 19th century, is one of the city's major historical buildings, whereas the highly modern Kiasma is probably the most debated building in Helsinki.
Helsinki has three major theatres: The Finnish National Theatre, the Helsinki City Theatre, and the finland-swedish Svenska Teatern. The city's main musical venues are the Finnish National Opera and the Finlandia concert-hall. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: the Hartwall Areena or the Helsingin jähalli. Helsinki has Finland's largest fair centre.
Helsinki is also known for its active ICT and digital cultures scene in Greater Helsinki.
Some widely renowned bands originate from Helsinki, including HIM, The Rasmus, The 69 Eyes and Stratovarius.
* Helsinki's coastal position makes it ideal to experience in the summertime from one of the many sightseeing ferries leaving from the port of Helsinki. Many of Helsinki's main attractions are also related to the sea, the Suomenlinna sea-fortress built in the 18th century to defend the city and the Seurasaari Island with its parks and open-air museum, the former being a UNESCO World Heritage site. Locals often spend sunny days at the Hietaniemi Beach (often simply called Hietsu), Helsinki's main beach in the district of Tölö.
Temperature - Yearly Average
In the winter-time Helsinki's northern position makes it dark for most of the day, thus making it a cosy town with much interesting lighting, such as the classic Aleksanterinkatu's Christmas street (Joulukatu). During the coldest months of the winter it is very common for Helsinkians to go for walks on the frozen sea, although much caution must be taken. There are also many places for ice swimming along the coast, some with saunas.
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Distances are calculated as the crow flies, and are provided as an aid in planning only.
* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Source wikipedia.
