doing laps as cruise ships glide by, ice crackling next to your lane, full-moon sauna sessions, sunbathing with the horizon, sea-view under a never-setting sun, Helsinki nightlife with a Helsinki skyline, dining by the sea, diving optional. Feel Helsinki like nowhere else. Allas Sea Pool.
Korkeasaari Zoo is uniquely located on an island in the Baltic Sea. It’s just outside the city, you can literally see the Helsinki Cathedral from the zoo. It takes only 20 minutes to get here by local bus (no 16) from the Railway Station. Meet animals from the Himalayas, Siberia, Mongolia, Finland and the Asian rainforest – more than 150 species in total – while enjoying the silence and peace of the Finnish nature surrounding you.
It is not a coincidence that the snow leopard’s only bare spot is the tip of its nose or that the snowy owl is white and fluffy. Animals have their ways to adapt to cold climates. At Korkeasaari Zoo we want our large animals to enjoy outdoor life throughout the year. Therefore, instead of seeing a giraffe or a hippo, you will see a wolverine, a forest reindeer, an Amur tiger and a Bactrian camel – all species adapted to extreme winter. On a windy day, follow suit from the animals and dress warmly. If it gets too chilly, take refuge in the warm tropical houses.
Our mission is to conserve biodiversity. We want our visitors to value the importance of biodiversity and aim to motivate behavior change for conservation. In cooperation with other modern zoos, we breed endangered species to maintain a healthy and viable zoo population. Zoo populations have already saved various species from extinction. In order to support our mission in protecting wild animals and their natural habitats, we donate annually to various field conservation projects. Bring your coins and donate to the project of your choice. By visiting Korkeasaari Zoo, you support our work as defenders of biodiversity and endangered species.
Korkeasaari Zoo is open every day of the year, even on Christmas. There is a restaurant on the island, or you can bring your own food. You’ll find a free map at the entrance to guide you through your visit. Check the opening hours on www.korkeasaari.fi
Do you know what European bison, bearded vulture, European forest reindeer and Przewalski´s wild horse have in common? All these species have been lost from the wild locally or globally, and brought back from extinction with the help of zoos, Korkeasaari Zoo among them.
– near the city but far from the rush
Located just a metro ride away, Espoo is a vital city, offering each and every one interesting things to see and experience.
Espoo has a lot to offer for those craving culture: visit a fascinating museum in Exhibition Centre WeeGee or participate in one of our city’s many events.
Large natural areas are characteristic of Espoo: seashores, the archipelago, the wilderness in nature reserves and the waterways of the lake highlands. The cultural landscapes, constructed environments and natural areas of Espoo are like Finland in miniature.
The special feature of Espoo is an urban structure that relies on five different centres. Four of them along the railway, and the fifth soon to be connected to the metro line.
Espoo is growing fast, and the growth is focused strongly around the metro stations. Espoo has twice been ranked as the most ecologically, economically, socially and culturally sustainable city in Europe. We have also been invited to act as one of the pioneering cities implementing the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in cooperation with Aalto University and companies. We want to ensure that our city will grow in a manner that will provide future generations with equal or better living conditions than those enjoyed by us.
Welcome to Espoo!
Jukka Mäkelä
mAyoR of eSpoo
Warm welcome to Helsinki! You have made an excellent choice on your travelling destination. Of course, from my point of view, Helsinki is one the most exciting and interesting cities in the world and I am delighted for your choice to experience the many adventures our capital has to offer.
The global pandemic may have temporarily affected our travelling habits, but as we move forward, the longing for new thrilling experiences has become stronger than ever. Luckily, the recent months have only highlighted Helsinki’s best qualities. We are a creative, safe and a unique place where bubbly urban life meets fascinating, diverse nature.
Helsinki lives and breathes throughout every season of the year. Sometimes this means sun or snow – other times it means slush and rain. But don’t you worry – Helsinki is always fun, exciting and provides unexpected experiences regardless of the season.
I can assure you every day is a new adventure in Helsinki and I can’t wait for you to explore our best features! We have collected all the best tips for your stay into one service: myhelsinki.fi
Enjoy your stay – and I hope to see you back soon!
Juhana Vartiainen mAyoR of helSinkiWelcome to Vantaa: a vibrant, growing city where there is never a shortage of new things to experience!
Chances are you arrived through our airport, Helsinki Airport, and you might have been one of the very first passengers to see its beautiful new entrance and new departure and arrival halls. The new entrance with its unique wooden ceiling is to be opened on December 1. In the past years, Vantaa has become a hub of northern flight routes, and before COVID-19, traffic between especially Northern Europe and Asia has experienced strong growth. The goal is to continuously improve connections to the world.
While in Vantaa, dive into local and urban life surrounded by our green environment. Visit the Finnish Science Centre Heureka or try out Finnish smoke saunas in Kuusijärvi recreational area. If you have a sweet tooth, familiarize yourself with Finnish confectionaries at Fazer Experience Visitor Centre – or simply stroll around the city and enjoy what comes your way whether it be murals, parks, or museums. Whatever you choose, enjoy your stay!
Ritva Viljanen photo: SAkARi mAnninen photo: olli uRpelA photo: JetRo StAvén
At Heidi’s Bier Bar, you can experience the authentic aprèsski atmosphere complete with large beers from our many different taps, dancing on the tables Oktoberfest style and karaoke, where you can sing your heart out. Our 4 liter beer towers, shot skis and après-ski drinks will get you in just the right après-ski mood.
Dressed in pretty Tyrolean dresses, our hostesses will serve you all your thirsty après-ski heart could possibly desire. Join us for an all year round après-ski party to the beat of German, Scandinavian and international hits that are sure to get your hips swinging and your pint foaming!
All of us at Heidi’s Bier Bar look forward to seeing you and serving you a nice, big pint.
Book a table: helsinki@heidisbierbar.fi Q
Inspired by New York’s Meatpacking District. We reach out to all people who have been dreaming of a high end but down to earth place to party. Butchers is a bar for those who love to drink high-quality cocktails in the early hours of the evening and for those who enjoy the heartbeat of an international standard nightclub, when the evening sun has passed under the horizon.
High quality and attention to detail flow through all aspects of Butchers: Rough but smooth, different but beautiful sitting areas, great mixologists, guilty pleasure playlist from the past and future centuries EDM, House Lounge, R&B, Rap and even Rock has a place in our hearts.
Reserve a table: www.butchers.fi tables@butchers.fi
Follow us:
Q @butchershelsinki
E Butchers Helsinki
Uudenmaankatu 16-20, 00120 Helsinki
We will warmly welcome you to Butchers.
The best ski jumper of all time, Matti Nykänen, who won four Olympic gold medals in the 1980s, six world championships and 46 World Cup competitions, is perhaps the most Shakespearian of Finnish winter sports heroes, combining Hamlet and Falstaff in the same person. Hamlet is especially known for his distinctive monologues (as well as for seeing ghosts), whereas Nykänen’s specialty was his endless supply of seemingly senseless one-liners (“life is man’s best time”, “the odds are fifty-sixty”).
The history of Finnish winter sports is full of grand emotions, tragedy and larger-than-life characters. Just like Shakespeare’s plays.
In addition to his success in sports, Nykänen’s popularity was based – just like Falstaff’s, perhaps Shakespeare’s most beloved character – on his role as a sympathetic knave and bon vivant. Nykänen’s legendary escapades included leaving in the middle of the training season for a beach party vacation, then flying straight from there to the World Championships and winning a silver medal. Unfortunately, after his sports career ended, alcoholism, violence and jail time changed the story from a rollicking comedy into a tragedy, which ended with Nykänen’s death at the age of 55. Nykänen’s oft-used nickname “ski jumping’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” tells you everything you need to know.
A gReAt mAn succumbing to his own ambitions and weaknesses is typical of Shakespeare’s characters, the most well-known examples of which are Richard III and Macbeth. In the history of Finnish skiing, this will forever be the story of Mika Myllylä . Myllylä became every Finn’s hero by winning the men’s 30 kilometer cross-country skiing Olympic gold medal in 1998 and three world championships in 1999. However, what was anticipated to be the crowning achievement of Myllylä’s career, the 2001 World Championship in Lahti, Finland, was overshadowed by a doping scandal, which turned this national hero into a national traitor. Like Nykänen, Myllylä’s life was difficult after the end of his sports career, including drunk driving and assault convictions. Myllylä’s life ended in an accident at only 41 years old.
Myllylä was not the only Finnish athlete to be busted using banned substances at the Lahti World Championships. The first skier caught, Jari Isometsä, said that he had acted on his own and received help from outside the country’s ski team. It later emerged that this story had been agreed upon between Isometsä and the coaching staff while sitting together in a sauna, i.e. in the words of Lady Macbeth: “A little water clears us of this deed”. Although Isometsä fell on his sword (or in his case perhaps his ski pole) in the best Marcus Antonius style, that did not prevent exposure of large-scale, systematic doping. In addition to Myllylä and Isometsä, two other male and two female skiers were banned from competition, and the team’s coaches and doctors received long bans.
Lahti was Finland’s Lady Macbeth moment – amid the fall from grace, everything crystallized into one question: “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” Images of endless press conferences were burned into the memories of Finnish viewers as the ski federation leadership assured everyone of their shock and ignorance. Marcus Antonius might have given the same sarcastic testimony about Caesar’s assassins: “… they are all Honorable men.”
Completely broken after the games, Myllylä published his “last will and testament” in which he apologized to the Finnish people and
the entire athletic world for his mistakes. As if from Shakespeare’s pen, Myllylä surrendered in the face of cruel fate: “I believe God wanted this to happen to me… Now there is no more hurry. The battle is over.”
In fAct, the oft-repeated lesson of the Bard’s stories is that no one can escape their fate, no matter how heroic they are. This was forgotten by Juha Mieto, who missed the 15-kilometer gold medal in cross-country skiing at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics by one hundredth of a second. This defeat was bitter, but in a way it was expected, since previous important races had shown that the ski gods did not favor this giant of a Finn. In 1972, he lost the Olympic bronze by six hundredths of a second, in 1974 he left the World Championship with a silver medal because he was still using wooden skis while the winner used technically superior fiberglass, and in 1978 a failed ski wax dropped him to bronze, leaving the gold only five seconds out of reach. Despite the bad precedent, Mieto left for Lake Placid with the same certainty of victory as Julius Caesar leaving for the Senate, disregarding the strange behavior of birds and other evil omens. After the assassins strike, Caesar wraps himself in his toga and dies, and Mieto escapes to the silence and loneliness of the forest after his defeat.
Shakespeare’s dramas are not mere gloom and doom, though; there are also good moments. “We few, we happy few, we band of Brothers,” proclaimed King Henry V as he roused his troops’ thirst for victory before one decisive battle. These words could have been from Jukka Jalonen, the head coach of the Finnish team that took home a sensational win at the 2019 Ice Hockey World Championship. Before the match, the Finnish media had dubbed the team as the worst in its history. However, the steadfast teammates banned together during the playoffs to overthrow Sweden, Russia and Canada.
FinAlly, let’S RetuRn to Mika Myllylä’s last will and testament, the final lines of which are so chilling that even the Bard himself would be proud: “Once again my ears are enchanted by the mystical allure of the serene Tervaneva (the swamp where Myllylä practiced). Humble, grateful and desolate, I will roam back against the headwind for the last time, kneel and concede my defeat, and beg for peace for my soul.” s
Shakespeare quotes and references: Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Macbeth and Richard III.
Lahti was Finland’s Lady Macbeth moment - amid the fall from grace, everything crystallized into one question: “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”
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The Finnish language is very difficult, so much so that Finns themselves even avoid using it, which is why Finns often prefer to speak through their actions.
The Finnish language is actually very ergonomic. You can just slap as many suffixes as you want on the end of a word, such as in, paikka/nsa/ pitä/mättö/myy/dessä/nsä/kö/hän/kään ([not] in their incorrectness either). There’s also pretty much no end to making compounds: lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas (Airplane jet turbine motor assistant mechanic non-commissioned officer trainee).
It should also be mentioned that Finns find it funny when Germans put verb clusters at the end of subordinate clauses.
There are five seasons in Finland. Summer is short, bright and breathtaking, autumn is colorful and crisp. Winter is long, cold and beautiful. Spring is wonderful because winter is finally over. The fifth season is the second winter, which always arrives just when you think the damn winter is over.
Several very different tribes live in Finland. When traveling in Finland, it’s a good idea to take into account at least the following factors about the way these tribes behave:
The East is home to talkative and emotional people who are usually crying when they aren’t laughing. These are the Karelians. To the west of Karelians live the Savonians, who consider themselves folksy but not everyone appreciates the subtlety of their wit.
Going even further west, you find the Häme people, whom we won’t mention further because they don’t like to call too much attention to themselves. Conversely, on the West Coast people are even quieter than normal, which is good because the few words they say are usually rude.
Ostrobothnians place their trust in two higher powers, themselves and God, especially the former. Finns in the middle of the country do not have any special characteristics other than that everyone owns their own lake. The north is home to people who live 150 kilometers from the nearest convenience store and 140 from a mailbox, which has made them quite broad-minded.
There is also a minority of Swedish-speaking Finns, who differ from others in that they are beautiful, rich, healthy and live on the coast.
Every nation has certain hardened perceptions of its character, which often spread to neighboring countries too. For example, Finns are supposedly taciturn, honest, hardworking, trustworthy, humble, inventive, violent, drunk, shy, frumpy and persistent.
All of these are true.
But Finns are also talkative, cosmopolitan, educated, lazy, dishonest, affectionate, teetotalers, beautiful, outdoorsy, urban, gay, heterosexual, dour, xenophobic and very tolerant.
Central to the nature of Finns are pessimism and self-flagellation. For example, the people who succeed in Finnish politics are those who know how to paint the darkest and ugliest future. People typically succeed in politics by promising that everything will go to hell if they’re not elected.
Written by rOOpe lipasti translated by alex ahlgren & OWen F. WitesManThere is usually some truth to stereotypes and clichés, so they can be enlightening when you want to get to know Finland and Finnishness. So here we go: How to understand Finns?
In Finland, it is important not to be a bother. You see this especially in restaurant culture: Waiters often aren’t particularly friendly, if there even is one. Many times you have to pick up your drinks and even your food from the counter yourself. We don’t tip since it’s usually equated with giving alms.
Above all, in restaurants it is important to eat quietly and without complaining, no matter how bad the food. When the server asks if you like your meal, you’re supposed to nod and smile and say that you just ate at home, which is why you didn’t finish your plate.
Personal space is important for Finns. This may be due to the fact that the country’s size is 338,424 square kilometers, which means that each Finn (5.5 million people) could have 61 hectares to themselves.
Being in close quarters with others is a vexing experience for Finns. A good conversational distance is two meters, which is coincidentally the same as what was recommended during the coronavirus pandemic. Any more distant and you have to raise your voice (bad) and any less and you might make physical contact (even worse).
There are many unwritten rules for standing in line, and we follow them strictly. Don’t stand too close to the person in front of or behind you. An acceptable distance would be just far enough so the queue doesn’t look like a queue. This results in each person’s place in line being constantly open to question. Therefore, you have to glare at others to make sure they don’t cut. Also, to make sure you don’t cut ahead yourself. This makes queuing quite laborious.
There is also no talking in line. Not to the cashier, but especially not to the other customers. If someone speaks, we act like we don’t hear them. Money should be retrieved well in advance: The cash register is not the place to be digging out and counting coins or selecting which credit card to use. You have to think of others. No one wants to be standing in line any longer than they have to.
Haggling is not at all customary in Finland. It’s embarrassing for Finns. It gives the impression that someone can’t afford what they’re buying or the seller is trying to swindle the customer. This simply doesn’t happen in Finland.
In Finnish society, you can’t charge someone anything less than what is on the price tag because then there wouldn’t be the right amount of money in the register at the end of the day. The cash register has to balance perfectly. That is what Finnishness is all about.
But we’re still frugal in Finland: we could drive 500 kilometers in search of cheaper gasoline.
When a Finn is head over heels in love, they ask the object of their love out for coffee. Either one can take the initiative. At the café, each pays for their own food and drinks. No one brings flowers or other gifts. We just drink filtered coffee and think anxiously about what to say next. Men look at their hands. Women then also look at the man’s hands. For this reason, it’s a good idea to keep your hands clean.
If one of the people is a foreigner, a good topic for conversation is Finland and Finnishness. The point of saunas should not be questioned, however.
In addition to the Winter War, one of the things Finland takes the greatest pride in is when the state gives each newborn baby a cardboard box full of baby items. It’s an ingenious way to save on the expense of a bed, since the baby can sleep in the cardboard box. Buying an actual bed would be stupid, since babies rarely seem to sleep, especially at night. Condoms have also been wisely added to the maternity package so that the state can save on the cost of future maternity packages.
Maternity packages are also an export product. In one audacious attempt at international marketing, a maternity package was sent to the English royals, who hadn’t previously thought of sleeping in cardboard boxes. The maternity package has been available to all mothers since 1949.
In their own minds, Finns are the most tenacious nation in the world. We still remind people that Finland was the only country in the world to pay back its war reparations and Marshall Plan aid, thus earning its reputation as the “Country that paid its debts”.
Finns do not want to be indebted to anyone in their private lives either. It causes them anxiety if a friend offers them a glass of beer, which is why the warmest friendships arise between those who never give each other anything.
Finns are the most reliable people in the world. This is evident in many areas, not least in large-scale industry. If you order a ship from the Finns, it arrives as agreed and on time. In Finland, schedules and sticking to them are valued perhaps more than anything else. The construction industry, rail transport and public procurement are, of course, exceptions to this.
You cannot offend a Finn worse than by arriving late to an appointment without a valid reason. These include death and dying.
Finns love rules. They also love to hate rules, but everyone obeys them all the same. This is reflected not only in strange laws (a 15-year-old can obtain a license to buy a shotgun but cannot buy sparklers), but also in the fact that in 2018 there were about 140,000 nonprofit organizations in Finland.
For Finns, it’s always preferable to handle things rigidly, bureaucratically and in accordance with rules. For many, serving as the president, treasurer, or the like of a nonprofit organization is an honor and a sign that they are respected members of society with a reasonable but not excessive amount of influence.
Finland is one of the most equal countries in the world. Women were given the right to vote in 1906, and they have been able to participate in working life just like men since the end of the world wars at the latest. Women actually work even more than men, since they also do most of the housework (about 60 %). Women are also the majority of university students in Finland.
Of course, there is still room for improvement. At public events, the queues for women’s restrooms are an ongoing problem because the number of toilets is always calculated incorrectly. s
Helsinki became the capital of Finland in 1812. Back then, it was merely a village, although it was founded as early as 1550. Nowadays Helsinki has got 630,000 inhabitants and is the largest city in Finland. More information: myhelsinki.fi.
The first mention of Espoo dates back to 1431, but it was not granted city rights until 1972. There are several centres in Espoo, of which Leppävaara is the largest. It is the second largest city in Finland with 275,000 inhabitants. More information: visitespoo.fi.
Vantaa is Finland’s fourth largest and the oldest city in the capital region: the first mention of it dates back to 1352. Helsinki Airport is located in Vantaa. Just like Espoo, Vantaa has several centres. Inhabitants: 235,000. More information: visitvantaa.fi.
Kaunainen is the smallest commune in Finland with only six square kilometres and 9,600 inhabitants. It is surrounded by Espoo and renowned with its wealthy residents. More information: kauniainen.fi.
The metropolitan area and the municipalities or cities of Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Sipoo, Tuusula, Mäntsälä, Pornainen and Vihti form the greater metropolitan area with a population of about 1.4 million inhabitants. Together with the cities of Porvoo, Lohja and Riihimäki, the population of the greater metropolitan area rises to about 1,557,000.
01 bReAk SokoS hotel flAmingo
Tasetie 8, 01510 Vantaa Tel. +358 20 123 4605 www.sokoshotels.fi
02 clARion hotel helSinki Tyynenmerenkatu 2, 00220 Helsinki Tel. +358 10 850 3820 www.nordicchoicehotels.com
03 clARion hotel helSinki AiRpoRt Tietotie 5, 01530 Vantaa Tel. +358 10 850 3810 www.nordicchoicehotels.com
04 foRenom ApARt hotel helSinki city Eerikinkatu 24, 00180 Helsinki Tel. +358 20 198 3420 www.forenom.com
05 hilton helSinki AiRpoRt Lentäjänkuja 1, 01530 Vantaa Tel. +358 9 732 20 www.hiltonhotels.com
06 hilton helSinki kAlAStAJAtoRppA
Kalastajatorpantie 1, 00330 Helsinki Tel. +358 9 458 11 www.hiltonhotels.com
07 hilton helSinki StRAnd
John Stenbergin ranta 4, 00530 Helsinki Tel. +358 9 393 51 www.hiltonhotels.com
08 hotel ARthuR
Vuorikatu 19, 00100 Helsinki Tel. +358 9 173 441 www.hotelarthur.fi
09 hotel hAAgA centRAl pARk Nuijamiestentie 10, 00320 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 580 7877 www.hotelhaaga.fi
10 hotel koRpilAmpi eSpoo
Korpilammentie 5, 02970 Espoo
Tel. +358 9 613 8411 www.korpilampi.fi
11 hotel mAJvik eSpoo
Majvikintie 1, 02430 Masala
Tel. +358 9 295 511 www.majvik.fi
12 hotel mAttS
Tynnyritie 1, 02230 Espoo
Tel +358 29 308 0440 www.hotelmatts.fi
13 hämeenkylän mAnoR
Juustenintie 1, 01630 Vantaa
Tel. +358 10 540 8350 www.hameenkylankartano.fi
14 mARSki by ScAndic Mannerheimintie 10, 00100 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 680 61 www.scandichotels.fi
15 oRiginAl SokoS hotel pReSidentti
Eteläinen Rautatiekatu 4, 00100 Helsinki
Tel. +358 20 123 4608 www.sokoshotels.fi
16 oRiginAl SokoS hotel tApiolA gARden
Tapionaukio 3, 02100 Espoo
Tel. + 358 20 123 4616 www.sokoshotels.fi
17 oRiginAl SokoS hotel tRiplA Fredikanterassi 1 B, 00520, Helsinki
Tel. +358 20 123 4611 www.sokoshotels.fi
18 RAdiSSon blu SeASide hotel
Ruoholahdenranta 3, 00180 Helsinki
Tel. +358 20 123 4707 www.radissonblu.com
19 ScAndic eSpoo
Nihtisillantie 1, 02630 Espoo
Tel. +358 9 435 20 www.scandichotels.fi
20 ScAndic gRAnd mARinA Katajanokanlaituri 7, 00160 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 166 61 www.scandichotels.fi
21 ScAndic kAiSAniemi
Kaisaniemenkatu 7, 00100 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 6899 9026 www.scandichotels.fi
22 ScAndic Simonkenttä
Simonkatu 9, 00100 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 68 380 www.scandichotels.fi
Let´s have a BOTTLE and talk some BULL.
Inthe autumn of 2021, The Sinebrychoff Art Museum in the centre of Helsinki has a special cause for celebration: one hundred years ago, in November 1921, the historic building of the Sinebrychoff family at Bulevardi 40, received its first visitors ever as a public museum.
Since the opening in 1921, both the museum and its collections have gone through many changes. The museum and the whole building is now part of the Finnish National Gallery, and the museum’s responsibility covers a wide chronological range between the late Middle Ages and the mid-nineteenth century. Alongside a programme of temporary exhibitions, the fascinating history of the Sinebrychoff family and their art collection is presented in a suite of stately furnished rooms on the second floor – the Paul and Fanny Sinebrychoff house museum.
The collection presented in the house museum is more than an art collection. In addition to antique furniture, the collection includes porcelain, silver and miniatures. But a house museum also covers the story about its inhabitants, the Sinebrychoff family. They belonged to the wealthiest and most successful entrepreneurs of the nineteenth century in Finland and the history of the Sinebrychoff brewery is therefore, inextricably linked to the history of the Sinebrychoff Art Museum.
The Russian Sinebrychoff family established themselves as merchants close to the Finnish border already in the eighteenth century. When Finland became a Grand Duchy of the Russian empire, three brothers, Nicolai, Ivan and Paul, followed in the footsteps of the Russian army and settled on the fortress island of Viapori just outside the city of Helsinki. Nicolai Sinebrychoff founded the brewery on the mainland, close to the city centre, in 1819. The business flourished and in 1842, the headquarters of the company moved into a brand new building at Bulevardi 40. The building, which is now the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, combined living spaces on the second floor with office spaces on the ground floor.
After the death of Nicolai Sinebrychoff in 1848, it was the youngest brother Paul, who took over the brewery and moved into the grand apartment with his family. Paul Sinebrychoff was an astute business manager and he continued to increase the family fortune. His wife Anna Sinebrychoff also turned out to be an accomplished business woman, who took a keen interest in the affairs of the brewery. When she became a widow in 1883, she continued to exercise a considerable influence over the family brewery, although it was her son, Paul the younger, who took over the company as managing director.
Anna Sinebrychoff had moved in to the second floor apartment as a young woman in 1850, following her marriage to Paul the elder, and she continued to live there until her death in 1904. Although her family was widely known as the wealthy owners of the Sinebrychoff
brewery, Anna Sinebrychoff was equally famous for her extensive charitable work. She supported a number of charitable institutions and generously gave money to almost anyone asking for her help. The following generation of the Sinebrychoff family continued to follow the model first established by Anna Sinebrychoff.
In 1883, Paul (the younger) married the young and promising actress Fanny Grahn. Consequently, Fanny gave up her career at the theatre, and during the early years of their marriage, she had the opportunity to enjoy a privileged life with her husband Paul. Together they travelled across many countries in Europe, visited important art collections and developed an interest in collecting art themselves.
Great art collections all have their own unique history. Sometimes an art collector has a clear vision of the future art collection from the beginning, and knows exactly what kind of art works would fit into the pre-conceived concept. Equally common, however, is the formation of an art collection as the result of a more gradually evolving process. Paul and Fanny Sinebrychoff started creating their art collection simultaneously with the furnishing of their home, and thus, the earliest acquisitions of art works reflected the more typical taste of the upper middle-class. They purchased paintings by Finnish late nineteenth-century artists that blended with the rich and decorative style of the furniture from the same period. Later, this part of their home and art collection was used exclusively for the private rooms of their future home at the Bulevardi 40.
A more ambitious scheme of collecting started in the 1890s and continued with an ever-growing passion until the beginning of the First World War. The couple abandoned the idea of collecting Finnish art, and according to Paul’s own statement, the aim was now “to have a representative sample of Swedish portrait painting from the period when the destinies of Sweden and Finland were united”. Paul was referring to the period before 1809 when Finland still belonged to
Sweden. Eventually the focussing on Swedish art works expanded to include some Italian old masters and a collection of high quality 17th century Dutch and Flemish painting.
The orientation towards earlier periods also meant that Paul and Fanny needed to trust the opinion of experts, and Paul spent endless hours in correspondence with fellow collectors, art dealers and experts. In particular, he relied on the advice of well-known art historian Osvald Sirén. Sirén, a fellow countryman from Finland, but now stationed in Stockholm, acted as an advisor for the National Museum in Sweden and several art collectors around Europe. Unlike Paul, Sirén had time to travel around Europe, he could inspect art works first-handed, and he knew what type of art works Paul and Fanny might find interesting.
Although Sirén successfully broadened the scope of the Sinebrychoff collection, it was evident that portrait painting remained the most important focus of the collection. The Sinebrychoff art collection also includes a collection of more than 300 miniatures and Paul Sinebrychoff in particular, loved these tiny portraits. He often made additional enquiries about the painters and the models.
Paul Sinebrychoff (the younger) died in 1917, only a few weeks before Finland became an independent state. The couple had remained childless, and Paul’s entire heritance passed to his wife Fanny. Only a few years later, in January 1921, the State of Finland officially received Fanny Sinebrychoff’s donation of her and Paul Sinebrychoff’s art collection. Fanny declared that she made the donation “to fulfil the wish and to preserve the memory of my husband who was so dedicated to the cultural and artistic progress of the country”.
At the time, the donation was by far the most valuable and significant donation of an art collection ever made in Finland. News of the donation spread throughout the country and Fanny Sinebrychoff was celebrated in many newspaper articles. Her time in the limelight was brief, however. She died of a sudden illness in April 1921. After her death, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs handed over the responsibility for the Sinebrychoff collection to the Finnish Art Association, which already was in charge of Ateneum, the most important art museum in Finland. Preparations to open a small
house museum in the former home of Paul and Fanny Sinebrychoff started immediately, and 27 November 1921 a brand new museum was inaugurated with festivities and celebrities present.
Today, the Sinebrychoff Art Museum cherishes its heritage and the memory of Paul and Fanny Sinebrychoff. The house museum celebrates its 100th anniversary with a new publication highlighting the gems of the collection and the fascinating story of the Sinebrychoff family. s
SINEBRYCHOFF ART MUSEUM
Bulevardi 40, 00120 Helsinki www.siff.fi
Opening hours
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 11–18 Wednesday 11–20
Tickets
Normal admission 16 €
Concessions 14 €
Under 18-year-olds free of charge Museum Card, Hki Card: free of charge
Saturday, Sunday 10–17 Monday closed
Free admission to the House Museum on the 2nd floor. The House Museum is closed until 26 November 2021.
LINNAEUS AND GLIMPSES OF PARADISE
Sinebrychoff Art Museum 17.2.–28.8.2022
Gardens have always been a source of wellbeing and joy, with flowers providing both visual and olfactory delight. The use of flowers as symbols or ornaments developed into botanical portraiture in the 17th century, In the visual arts the use of flowers as symbol or ornament develops into true flower portrait in the 17th century. The floral still life was born. Pictures became an important aspect of the study of nature and its illustration. Artists specialising in flower painting – a significant number of them women – also left their mark on botanical publications.
A proper history of gardens in Finland begins with the work of two naturalists, Pehr Kalm (1716–1779) and his teacher Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). At the time there was a strong link between botanical research and garden art. Gardeners prided themselves with their rare plants. Every gardener creates a personal paradise.
Fanny declared that she made the donation “to fulfil the wish and to preserve the memory of my husband who was so dedicated
to the cultural and artistic progress of the country”Empire Hall.
Every Midsummer, in June, that is – just when summer is about to begin! – Finland celebrates the longest day of the year. The sun does not set at all, but instead shines all night (unless it hails; Finnish weather is unpredictable). However, time-honored Midsummer tradition requires that some killjoy has to say that winter will be here soon, since the days are getting shorter now.
And it’s true, though Southern Finland will still have to wait quite a while for the darkness to return. But by the end of September, you can really notice the days start to shorten: when you wake up in the morning, it’s dark, and the daylight doesn’t last long. October moves along, but by November it’s bad, with pouring rain, dead plants everywhere and thickening darkness. Finally by December, the sun only pops up to say a brief hello. Because it’s usually so cloudy, the days are just gray twilight.
To make matters worse, on 31.10. we move the clocks back an hour to what we’ve given the Orwellian name, “normal time.” This way you can maximize the possibility that no one will see daylight for a few months.
Of couRSe, it’s even worse in the north: in Utsjoki, the sun sets in the middle of November and doesn’t rise again until it peeks from the sky for just a moment in mid-January. After living in pitch darkness for a few months, you start to understand what darkness really means. At least in the south, their cities are better lit. No wonder then that darkness-induced anxiety has its own medical term: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). SAD has the same symptoms as regular depression, including sadness, anxiety, irritability, hopelessness and so on. Symptoms usually begin in October and lessen around February-March, when the sun starts to reappear. About one percent of Finns suffer from recurrent episodes of seasonal depression. In addition, 10–30 % of the population suffers from similar but milder symptoms. This isn’t called depression, but rather the “winter blues.” Symptoms usually get worse with age, which is why many Finnish retirees live in Spain during the winters.
And yet, in spite of it all, there is also something very calming about the darkness.
Some people are depressed by Finland’s long winters, but the darkness can also be enjoyable.
So now it’S time to list the good qualities of darkness. Enjoy!
1. You can see the stars better in the dark. And if you get lucky and there’s snow on the ground, the starry sky and white snow drifts are a beautiful sight to behold. One of the coolest things to do during the winter in Finland is to ski in the moonlight through the fields between islands of forest. Failing that, a walking path will do.
2. You can use candles to your heart’s content. What could be cozier than lighting some candles and curling up under a blanket to take a nap or read a book? Or curling up on the sofa to enjoy a glass of red wine while the rest of the world is cloaked in darkness? If you happen to own a fireplace, staring at the fire will multiply your enjoyment several times over.
3. Darkness provides peace of mind. Autumn strolls in the city, with only a little light gleaming from the streetlamps, provide the opportunity to be all by yourself and think deep thoughts. You can be anonymous, and no one will bother you. This also fits the Finnish mindset, although it’s unclear which is the reason and which is the result.
4. The aurora borealis. In the winter darkness, you can see the northern lights even in southern Finland, although they are more beautiful in the north. Aurora borealis is a light phenomenon of colorful, dancing patterns in the night sky. You can see more of them the closer you are to the earth’s poles. They are caused by solar wind particles hitting the earth’s atmosphere.
5. Winter sauna. Darkness usually also means coldness, so what better way to warm up than by taking a sauna? After the sauna, a stroll in the snow or a short swim will invigorate you, and then you can return to the dark steam room, a sort of natural womb. If you don’t have your own sauna, Finland is full of public saunas, where you can often also swim in a hole in the ice.
6. You can sleep better. If you have a hard time sleeping in the summer when the nights are bright, you won’t have any trouble in Finland during the winter. You can go to bed at three in the afternoon and sleep until ten in the morning in blissful twilight.
And that’s not all: during the winter, the secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin increases, which is why people are usually sleepier than in the summer. Thus you have a scientific reason to take naps several times a day!
7. In the dark, even a small ray of light is accentuated. Finland arranges different artistic light shows every year. For example, Lux Helsinki is held early in January each year, turning the whole city into a magnificent light show. Similar artistic light shows are also held in Turku, Tampere and Oulu.
8. Everyone’s mood drops, and we become irritable. Of course, it is unfortunate that darkness causes a decrease in the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. Serotonin affects your mood and dopamine allows you to experience pleasure. However, this is the exact reason why you should let your hair down, throw a party, start a new hobby or take a small trip. This is why the Christmas party season in Finland lasts from October to December.
9. You’re always hungry. Darkness increases appetite and the desire for sweets. What a fabulous excuse! I usually don’t care for them, but I do when it’s so damn dark! As a bonus, people don’t see me gain weight in the dark.
10. You don’t feel like moving. Darkness lowers your mood and energy levels, which is easy to translate into a win: I’d love to run a marathon instead of watching Netflix right now, but it’s just so dark – what a pity. Luckily, the world has all sorts of sports that can be done in the winter and the dark. Night orienteering is one example, which you can also do during the day in the winter. The other is night jogging – though despite its honorable sounding name, in the Finnish language this refers to bar-hopping and sleeping around.
11. You have memory and concentration problems. Yeah, yeah! I know I promised I’d do that a week ago, but look at how dark it is, I just couldn’t. Would tomorrow be okay? How about next week? Let’s address this again in April at the latest! Is there an easier way to explain away your own laziness than six months of darkness? s
So you spent the night here. Or you’re about to. Or both. Are you here for business or pleasure? Relaxing with your family? Relaxing without them?
Well, you’re absolutely right, that’s none of my business, and surely, you’ve already filled out your registration form at the reception desk.
I just want to remind you of the fact that you have entered the twilight zone, that you’re in a very special place. Hotels are much more than just a home away from home, they’re at the same time private and public spaces. Some people check in, because they don’t want to be seen together, others do it for exactly the opposite reason.
And while the bed, the breakfast, the friendly staff and the quality of the toilet paper are of course important, the most crucial thing about hotels is their magical potential.
EveRy once in a while, hotels are the setting for events of historical dimensions. Some of the world’s biggest deals – both legal and illegal – were made in a hotel, peace treaties were signed, empires founded and buried – hotels have been the backdrop of many political, cultural and technological breakthroughs.
The very first telephone call in London was placed in 1877 from a hotel, and by none other than inventor Alexander Graham Bell himself. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed 1929 during a fete in a Los Angeles hotel. Rumor even has
it, that the first sketch of the Oscar statue was sketched on a hotel napkin. In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King wrote his famous ‘I have a dream’ -speech in a hotel room in Washington D.C. In 2007, author J.K. Rowling finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in a hotel in Edinburgh.
And then there’s the martini cocktail, a timeless classic. The very first one is said to have been shaken – or stirred – by a hotel bartender at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City.
It’s clear that the world would be a different place without the before-mentioned achievements and without the hotels that made them possible.
And so would Finland, because in the early 1900s, when Finland was still part of Russia, the separatist intelligentsia used to meet at a hotel in downtown Helsinki. It’s here that guys like Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Jean Sibelius and Juhani Aho dreamed up their own national state.
Makes you wonder what their wives did while the founding fathers were drinking and discussing politics, doesn't it? Be that as it may, it’s safe to assume that without that hotel, Finland would not be what it is today, maybe it wouldn’t even exist as an independent state.
HotelS often ARe history in the making. But it doesn’t always have to be world history, it can also be rather personal: While not a lot of people are born in hotels, quite many babies are put on their way in a hotel bed. As a matter of fact, a group of Italian hotels are
offering couples who conceive in their rooms a free stay in a bid to tackle the country’s low birth rate. Couples who can produce a birth certificate of their child nine months after their stay will be entitled to a reimbursement for one night’s stay.
You feel intimidated now? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put you under any pressure. No sweat, you don’t have to do anything dramatical or achieve anything of historical dimensions while you’re here. Just enjoy your stay!
All I’m trying to say is: You’re in the right place to do something truly great, if you’re so inclined. Anything can happen in a hotel. And you’ve been warned. s
Roman Schatz is a writer, journalist and radio host who moved to Finland from West Germany 35 years ago. He has spent at least 2 years of his life in different hotels, both for business and pleasure…
MORE THAN 150 STORES, RESTAURANTS AND CAFÉS
A vibrant 7 floor shopping centre with about 100 stores to shop for clothes, shoes, accessories, home decor, cosmetics and more. You can also choose between 50 places to eat and drink. What’s not to like?
