Helsinki

Since the end of the Ice Age, after the retreat of the ice cover, first colonizers came to the area around Helsinki at about 5000 BC. Their presence was documented by archeologists in Vantaa, Pitäjänmäki and Kaarela.[32] Permanent settlements appeared only at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, in the Iron Age, when the area was inhabited by Tavastians. They used the area for fishing and hunting, but due to a lack of archeological finds it is difficult to say how extensive their settlements were. Pollen analysis has shown that there were cultivating settlements in the area in the 10th century and surviving historical records from the 14th century describe Tavastian settlements in the area.[33]

The early settlements were raided by Vikings, later substituted by Christianized colonists from Sweden. They arrived mostly from the Swedish coastal regions of Norrland and Hälsingland, which especially intensified by the years of 1100.[32] Swedes colonized the coastline of the Helsinki region permanently in the late 13th century after the successful Second Crusade to Finland, which led to the defeat of the Tavastians.[34][33]

Written chronicles of 1417 mentioned Koskela village near the rapids close to the mouth of the Vantaa River, near which Helsinki would be founded.[32]

A map of Helsinki in 1645

Helsinki was established as a trading town by King Gustav I of Sweden in 12 June 1550, as the town of Helsingfors, which he intended to be a rival to the Hanseatic city of Reval on the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland (today known as Tallinn).[35][32] In order to populate his newly founded town in the mouth of the Vantaa River, the King issued an order to resettle the bourgeoisie of Porvoo, Ekenäs, Rauma and Ulvila into the town.[36] Shallowness of the bay did not permit the building of a harbor, and the king allowed settlers to abandon the unfortunate place. In 1640, Count Per Brahe the Younger moved the city center with few descendants of the original settlers to the Vironniemi peninsula by the sea, currently Kruununhaka neighborhood, where the Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral are now located.[37]

In the course of the second half of the 17th century Helsinki, as a wooden town, suffered from regular fires, and by the beginning of the 18th century its population was below 1,700 inhabitants. For a long time, Helsinki was mainly a small administrative city of the governors of the Nyland and Tavastehus County, but its importance began to grow as a more solid naval defense began to be built in front of the city in the 18th century.[36] Little came of the plans as Helsinki remained a tiny town plagued by poverty, wars, and diseases. The plague of 1710 killed the greater part of the inhabitants of Helsinki.[35] In the end of the Great Northern War in 1721, the retreating Swedish administration burned Helsinki down. Despite of that, by the beginning of the 19th century the number of the city inhabitants grew to 3,000.[32] The construction of the naval fortress Sveaborg (in Finnish Viapori, today also Suomenlinna) in the 18th century helped improve Helsinki's 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 the town began to develop into a substantial city. Russians besieged the Sveaborg fortress during the war, and about one quarter of the town was destroyed in an 1808 fire.[38]

Emperor Alexander I of Russia moved the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki on 8 April 1812[39][40][41] to reduce Swedish influence in Finland, and to bring the capital closer to Saint Petersburg. Following the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, the Royal Academy of Turku, which at the time was the country's only university, was also relocated to Helsinki and eventually became the modern University of Helsinki. The move consolidated the city's new role and helped set it on a path of continuous growth. This transformation is highly apparent in the downtown core, which was rebuilt in the neoclassical style to resemble Saint Petersburg, mostly to a plan by the German-born architect C. L. Engel. As elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were key factors behind the city's growth.

The population of Helsinki was already over 100,000 in the 1910s, and despite the tumultuous nature of Finnish history during the first half of the 20th century (including the Finnish Civil War and the Winter War which both left marks on the city), Helsinki continued its steady development. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were approximately the same number of Finnish and Swedish speakers in Helsinki; the majority of the workers were Finnish-speaking. The local Helsinki slang (or stadin slangi) developed among Finnish children and young people as a mixed Finnish-Swedish language from the 1890s, and it was also influenced by the Russian language, and from the 1950s onwards, slang began to become more Finnish.[42] A landmark event was the 1952 Olympic Games, held in Helsinki. Finland's rapid urbanization in the 1970s, occurring late relative to the rest of Europe, tripled the population in the metropolitan area, and the Helsinki Metro subway system was built. The relatively sparse population density of Helsinki and its peculiar structure have often been attributed to the lateness of its growth.

Helsingin keskustaajama, an officially recognized urban area

A map of Helsinki's capital region (in orange) and its sub-regional municipalities (in light orange)

The Helsinki metropolitan area, also known as the Capital Region (Finnish: Pääkaupunkiseutu, Swedish: Huvudstadsregionen) comprises four municipalities: Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen.[48] The Helsinki urban area is considered to be the only metropolis in Finland.[49] It has a population of over 1.1 million, and is the most densely populated area of Finland. The Capital Region spreads over a land area of 770 square kilometres (300 sq mi) and has a population density of 1,418 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,670/sq mi). With over 20 percent of the country's population in just 0.2 percent of its surface area, the area's housing density is high by Finnish standards.

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area (Greater Helsinki) consists of the cities of Helsinki Capital Region and ten surrounding municipalities: Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Nurmijärvi, Sipoo, Tuusula, Pornainen, Mäntsälä and Vihti.[50] The Metropolitan Area covers 3,697 square kilometres (1,427 sq mi) and has a population of over 1.4 million, or about a fourth of the total population of Finland. The metropolitan area has a high concentration of employment: approximately 750,000 jobs.[51] Despite the intensity of land use, the region also has large recreational areas and green spaces. The Greater Helsinki area is the world's northernmost urban area with a population of over one million people, and the northernmost EU capital city.

The Helsinki urban area is an officially recognized urban area in Finland, defined by its population density. The area stretches throughout 11 municipalities, and is the largest such area in Finland, with a land area of 669.31 square kilometres (258.42 sq mi) and approximately 1.2 million inhabitants.

Helsinki has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) similar to that of Hokkaido or Nova Scotia coastal.[52] Owing to the mitigating influence of the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic Current (see also Extratropical cyclone), temperatures during the winter are higher than the northern location might suggest, with the average in January and February around −4 °C (25 °F).[53]

Winters in Helsinki are notably warmer than in the north of Finland, and the snow season is much shorter in the capital, due to it being in extreme Southern Finland and the urban heat island effect. Temperatures below −20 °C (−4 °F) occur a few times a year at most. However, because of the latitude, days last 5 hours and 48 minutes around the winter solstice with very low sun (at noon, the sun is a little bit over 6 degrees in the sky), and the cloudy weather at this time of year exacerbates darkness. Conversely, Helsinki enjoys long daylight during the summer; during the summer solstice, days last 18 hours and 57 minutes.[54]

The average maximum temperature from June to August is around 19 to 22 °C (66 to 72 °F). Due to the marine effect, especially during hot summer days, daily temperatures are a little cooler and night temperatures higher than further inland. The highest temperature ever recorded in the city was 33.2 °C (91.8 °F), on 28 July 2019 at Kaisaniemi weather station,[55] breaking the previous record of 33.1 °C (91.6 °F) that was observed in July 1945 at Ilmala weather station.[56] The lowest temperature ever recorded in the city was −34.3 °C (−29.7 °F), on 10 January 1987 although an unofficial low of −35 °C (−31 °F) was recorded in December 1876.[57] Helsinki Airport (in Vantaa, 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of the Helsinki city centre) recorded a temperature of 33.7 °C (92.7 °F), on 29 July 2010, and a low of −35.9 °C (−33 °F), on 9 January 1987. Precipitation is received from frontal passages and thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are most common in the summer.

An aerial view of Malmi in the northern part of Helsinki

Helsinki is divided into three major areas: Helsinki Downtown (Finnish: Helsingin kantakaupunki, Swedish: Helsingfors innerstad), North Helsinki (Finnish: Pohjois-Helsinki, Swedish: Norra Helsingfors) and East Helsinki (Finnish: Itä-Helsinki, Swedish: Östra Helsingfors). Of these, Helsinki Downtown means the undefined core area of capital, as opposed to suburbs. The designations business center and city center usually refer to Kluuvi, Kamppi and Punavuori.[61][62] Other subdivisional centers outside the downtown area include Malmi (Swedish: Malm),[63][64] located in the northeastern part of city, and Itäkeskus (Swedish: Östra centrum),[65] in the eastern part of city.

Carl Ludvig Engel, appointed to plan a new city centre on his own, designed several neoclassical buildings in Helsinki. The focal point of Engel's city plan was the Senate Square. It is surrounded by the Government Palace (to the east), the main building of Helsinki University (to the west), and (to the north) the large Helsinki Cathedral, which was finished in 1852, twelve years after Engel's death. Helsinki's epithet, "The White City of the North", derives from this construction era. Most of Helsinki's older buildings were built after the 1808 fire; before that time, the oldest surviving building in the center of Helsinki is the Sederholm House (1757) at the intersection of Senate Square and the Katariinankatu street.[37] Suomenlinna also has buildings completed in the 18th century, including the Kuninkaanportti on the Kustaanmiekka Island (1753–1754).[67] The oldest church in Helsinki is the Old Church (1826) designed by Engel.[68]

Helsinki is also home to numerous Art Nouveau-influenced (Jugend in Finnish) buildings belonging to the Kansallisromantiikka (romantic nationalism) trend, designed in the early 20th century and strongly influenced by Kalevala, which was a common theme of the era. Helsinki's Art Nouveau style is also featured in central residential districts, such as Katajanokka and Ullanlinna.[69] An important architect of the Finnish Art Nouveau style was Eliel Saarinen, whose architectural masterpiece was the Helsinki Central Station. Opposite the Bank of Finland building is the Renaissance Revivalish the House of the Estates (1891).[70]

The only visible public buildings of the Gothic Revival architecture in Helsinki are St. John's Church (1891) in Ullanlinna, which is the largest stone church in Finland, and its twin towers rise to 74 meters and have 2,600 seats.[71] Other examples of neo-Gothic include the House of Nobility in Kruununhaka and the Catholic St. Henry's Cathedral.[72][73]

Helsinki's neoclassical buildings were often used as a backdrop for scenes set to take place in the Soviet Union in many Cold War era Hollywood movies, when filming in the USSR was not possible. Some of them include The Kremlin Letter (1970), Reds (1981), and Gorky Park (1983).[74] Because some streetscapes were reminiscent of Leningrad's and Moscow's old buildings, they too were used in movie productions. At the same time the government secretly instructed Finnish officials not to extend assistance to such film projects.[75] Rarely has Helsinki been represented on its own in films, most notably the 1967 British-American espionage thriller Billion Dollar Brain, starring Michael Caine.[76][77] The city has large amounts of underground areas such as shelters and tunnels, many used daily as swimming pool, church, water management, entertainment etc.[78][79][80]

Helsinki also features several buildings by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, recognized as one of the pioneers of architectural functionalism. However, some of his works, such as the headquarters of the paper company Stora Enso and the concert venue Finlandia Hall, have been subject to divided opinions from the citizens.[81][82][83]

Functionalist buildings in Helsinki by other architects include the Olympic Stadium, the Tennis Palace, the Rowing Stadium, the Swimming Stadium, the Velodrome, the Glass Palace, the Töölö Sports Hall, and Helsinki-Malmi Airport. The sports venues were built to serve the 1940 Helsinki Olympic Games; the games were initially cancelled due to the Second World War, but the venues fulfilled their purpose in the 1952 Olympic Games. Many of them are listed by DoCoMoMo as significant examples of modern architecture. The Olympic Stadium and Helsinki-Malmi Airport are also catalogued by the Finnish Heritage Agency as cultural-historical environments of national significance.[84][85]

The 134 m (440 ft) Majakka in Kalasatama has been built on top of the Redi shopping centre. It is currently Finland's tallest building.

When Finland became heavily urbanized in the 1960s and 1970s, the district of Pihlajamäki, for example, was built in Helsinki for new residents, where for the first time in Finland, precast concrete was used on a large scale. Pikku Huopalahti, built in the 1980s and 1990s, has tried to get rid of a one-size-fits-all grid pattern, which means that its look is very organic and its streets are not repeated in the same way. Itäkeskus in Eastern Helsinki was the first regional center in the 1980s.[86] Efforts have also been made to protect Helsinki in the late 20th century, and many old buildings have been renovated.[86] Modern architecture is represented, for example, by the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, which consists of two straight and curved-walled parts, though this style strongly divided the opinions from the citizens.[83] Next to Kiasma is the glass-walled Sanomatalo (1999).

The start of the 21st century marked the beginning of highrise construction in Helsinki, when the city decided to allow the construction of skyscrapers; prior to this, Hotel Torni (69.5 m (228 ft)), built in 1931, has generally been called Finland's first skyscraper,[87] and was at time the tallest building in Finland until 1976.[88] As of April 2017 there are no skyscrapers taller than 100 meters in the Helsinki area, but there are several projects under construction or planning, mainly in Pasila and Kalasatama. An international architecture competition for at least 10 high-rises to be built in Pasila is being held. Construction of the towers will start in 2023.[89] In Kalasatama, the first 35-story (130 m (430 ft); called Majakka) and 32-story (122 m (400 ft); called Loisto) residential towers are already completed. Later they will be joined by a 37-story, two 32-story, 31-story, and 27-story residential buildings. In the Kalasatama area, there will be about 15 high-rises within 10 years.[90] Even higher skyscrapers under the name Trigoni are planned for the Central Pasila area near the Mall of Tripla shopping centre; the highest of which is to become about 200 meters high,[91][92] and it can be seen even in good weather all the way to the Estonian coast.[93][94]

Well-known statues and monuments strongly embedded in the cityscape of Helsinki include the Keisarinnankivi ("Stone of the Empress", 1835), the statue of Russian Emperor Alexander II (1894), the fountain sculpture Havis Amanda (1908), the Paavo Nurmi statue (1925), the Three Smiths Statue (1932), the Aleksis Kivi Memorial (1939), the Eino Leino Statue (1953), the Equestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim (1960) and the Sibelius Monument (1967).[95]

A panoramic view over the southernmost districts of Helsinki from Hotel Torni. The Helsinki Old Church and its surrounding park are seen in the foreground, while the towers of St. John's Church (near centre) and Mikael Agricola Church (right) can be seen in the middle distance, backdropped by the Gulf of Finland.

The population broken down by language group, 1870–2013. During the period, the population increased significantly, and the city changed its linguistic majority from Swedish to Finnish.
  Finnish speakers
  Swedish speakers
  Russian speakers
  Speakers of other languages

Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Helsinki. 77.1%[108] of the citizens speak Finnish as their native language. 5.6% speak Swedish. The remaining 17.3% of the population speaks a native language other than Finnish or Swedish. The fastest growing languages are Arabic and Somali. Just 64 people speak the Sami languages as their mother tongue, though 527 people are of Sami background.[109] 93 Tatar speakers live in Helsinki, nearly half of Finland's total Tatar speakers.

Helsinki slang is a regional dialect of the city. It combines influences mainly from Finnish and English, and has traditionally had strong Russian and Swedish influences. Finnish today is the common language of communication between Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers, and speakers of other languages (New Finns) in day-to-day affairs in the public sphere between unknown persons.[110][111] Swedish is commonly spoken in city or national agencies specifically aimed at Finland-Swedish speakers, such as the Social Services Department on Hämeentie or the Luckan Cultural centre in Kamppi. Knowledge of Finnish is also essential in business and is usually a basic requirement in the employment market.[112] Swedish speakers are most concentrated in the Southern parts of the city. The district with the most Swedish speakers is Ullanlinna/Ulrikasborg with 2,098 (19.6%), while Byholmen is the only district where the majority language is Swedish (at 82.8%). The number of Swedish speakers decreased every year until 2008, and since then their numbers has increased every year. Since 2007, the amount of Swedish speakers has increased by 2,351.[113] Knowledge of Finnish is also essential in business and is usually a basic requirement in the employment market.[114]

Finnish speakers surpassed Swedish speakers in 1890 to become the majority of the city's population.[115] At the time, the population of Helsinki was 61,530.[116]

Residents by country of origin (2021)[117][118]
Country	Population
Total residents	658,457
Russia	20,358
Somalia	12,527
Estonia	11,639
Iraq	7,001
China	4,082
Sweden	3,493
Vietnam	3,015
Afghanistan	2,736
Turkey	2,633
India	2,524
Yugoslavia	2,426
United Kingdom	2,115
Nepal	2,115
United States	2,112
Iran	2,004
Other countries/territories  Germany 1,866  Philippines 1,749  Bangladesh 1,736  Thailand 1,561  Morocco 1,312  Pakistan 1,272  Italy 1,264  Syria 1,228  Spain 1,216  Ethiopia 1,196  France 1,193  Nigeria 1,175  DR Congo 974  Romania 885  Ukraine 859  Poland 801  Ghana 712  Brazil 672  Japan 627  Cameroon 606  Algeria 602  Bulgaria 587  Egypt 548  Latvia 546  Gambia 544  Kenya 501  Norway 334  Denmark 302  Iceland 64

As the crossroads of many international ports and Finland's largest airport, Helsinki is the global gateway to and from Finland. The city has Finland's largest immigrant population in both absolute and relative terms. There are over 140 nationalities represented in Helsinki. It is home to the world's largest Estonian community outside of Estonia. The number of Estonian immigrants has decreased every year since 2015, from 12,970 to 11,639 in 2021. Somali immigrants overtook Estonians as Helsinki's second largest immigrant group in 2020.[97] Around 1,000 Sami people live in Helsinki.[119] Foreign citizens make up 10.3% of the population, while the total immigrant population makes up 17.6%.

The number of people with a foreign mother tongue is expected to be 196,500 in 2035, or 26% of the population. 114,000 will speak non-European languages, which will be 15% of the population.[120]

Uspenski Cathedral.

The Temppeliaukio Church is a Lutheran church in the Töölö neighborhood of the city. The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and opened in 1969. Built directly into solid rock, it is also known as the Church of the Rock and Rock Church.[121][122] The Cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki is the Helsinki Cathedral, completed in 1852. It is a major landmark in the city and has 1,300 seats.

There are 21 Lutheran congregations in Helsinki, 18 of which are Finnish-speaking and 3 are Swedish-speaking. These form Helsinki's congregationgroup. Outside that there is Finland's German congregation with 3,000 members and Rikssvenska Olaus Petri-församlingen for Swedish-citizens with 1,000 members.[123]

The largest Orthodox congregation is the Orthodox Church of Helsinki. It has 20,000 members. Its main church is the Uspenski Cathedral.[124] The two largest Catholic congregations are the Cathedral of Saint Henry, with 4,552 members, established in 1860 and St Mary's Catholic Parish, with 4,107 members, established in 1954.[125]

At the end of 2021, 49.1% of the population were affiliated to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Helsinki is the least Lutheran municipality in Finland.[126]

Helsinki Synagogue in 2020

There are around 30 mosques in the Helsinki region. Many linguistic and ethnic groups such as Bangladeshis, Kosovars, Kurds and Bosniaks have established their own mosques.[127] The largest congregation in both Helsinki and Finland is the Helsinki Islamic Center, established in 1995. It has over 2,800 members as of 2017, and it received €24,131 in government assistance.[128]

In 2015, imam Anas Hajar estimated that on big celebrations around 10,000 Muslims visit mosques.[129] In 2004, it was estimated that there were 8,000 Muslims in Helsinki, 1.5% of the population at the time.[130] The number of people in Helsinki with a background from Muslim majority countries was nearly 41,000 as of 2021, representing over 6% of the population.

The main synagogue of Helsinki is the Helsinki Synagogue from 1906, located in Kamppi. It has over 1,200 members, out of the 1,800 Jews in Finland, and it is the older of the two buildings in Finland originally built as a synagogue, followed by the Turku Synagogue in 1912.[131] The congregation includes a synagogue, Jewish kindergarten, school, library, Jewish meat shop, two Jewish cemeteries and an retirement home. Many Jewish organizations and societies are based there, and the synagogue publishes the main Jewish magazine in Finland, HaKehila.[132]

• University of Helsinki
• Aalto University (Espoo)

• Hanken School of Economics
• University of the Arts Helsinki
• National Defence University
• Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences
• Laurea University of Applied Sciences
• Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
• Arcada University of Applied Sciences
• Diaconia University of Applied Sciences
• HUMAK University of Applied Sciences

Helsinki is one of the co-location centres of the Knowledge and Innovation Community (Future information and communication society) of The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).[138]

The biggest historical museum in Helsinki is the National Museum of Finland, which displays a vast collection from prehistoric times to the 21st century. The museum building itself, a national romantic-style neomedieval castle, is a tourist attraction. Another 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 Helsinki University Museum "Arppeanum" and the Finnish Museum of Natural History.

The Finnish National Gallery consists of three museums: Ateneum Art Museum for classical Finnish art, Sinebrychoff Art Museum for classical European art, and Kiasma Art Museum for modern art, in a building by architect Steven Holl. The old Ateneum, a neo-Renaissance palace from the 19th century, is one of the city's major historical buildings. All three museum buildings are state-owned through Senate Properties.

The city of Helsinki hosts its own art collection in the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), primarily located in its Tennispalatsi gallery. Around 200 pieces of public art lie outside. The art is all city property.

Helsinki Art Museum will in 2020 launch the Helsinki Biennial, which will bring art to maritime Helsinki – in its first year to the island of Vallisaari.[139]

The Design Museum is devoted to the exhibition of both Finnish and foreign design, including industrial design, fashion, and graphic design. Other museums in Helsinki include the Military Museum of Finland, Didrichsen Art Museum, Amos Rex Art Museum, and the Tram Museum.

• Museums in Helsinki
• 
  Sinebrychoff Art Museum (1842)
• 
  Helsinki University Museum "Arppeanum" (1869)
• 
  The Cygnaeus Gallery Museum (1870)
• 
  The Mannerheim Museum (1874; 1957 as museum)
• 
  The Military Museum of Finland (1881)
• 
  Classical art museum Ateneum (1887)
• 
  The Design Museum (1894)
• 
  Tram Museum (Ratikkamuseo) (1900)
• 
  The National Museum of Finland (1910)
• 
  The Helsinki City Museum (1911)
• 
  The Finnish Museum of Natural History (1913)
• 
  Kunsthalle Helsinki art venue (1928)
• 
  Didrichsen Art Museum (1964)
• 
  Helsinki Art Museum (1968)
• 
  Kiasma museum of contemporary art (1998)
• 
  Amos Rex art museum (2018)

The Finnish National Theatre (1902), designed by architect Onni Tarjanne. In front of it, the memorial statue of Aleksis Kivi.

Helsinki has three major theatres: The Finnish National Theatre, the Helsinki City Theatre, and the Swedish Theatre (Svenska Teatern). Other notable theatres in the city include the Alexander Theatre, Q-teatteri, Savoy Theatre, KOM-theatre, and Teatteri Jurkka.

Helsinki is home to two full-size symphony orchestras, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both of which perform at the Helsinki Music Centre concert hall. Acclaimed contemporary composers Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Einojuhani Rautavaara, among others, were born and raised in Helsinki, and studied at the Sibelius Academy. The Finnish National Opera, the only full-time, professional opera company in Finland, is located in Helsinki. The opera singer Martti Wallén, one of the company's long-time soloists, was born and raised in Helsinki, as was mezzo-soprano Monica Groop.

Many widely renowned and acclaimed bands have originated in Helsinki, including Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Hanoi Rocks, HIM, Stratovarius, The 69 Eyes, Finntroll, Ensiferum, Wintersun, The Rasmus, Poets of the Fall, and Apocalyptica. The most significant of the metal music events in Helsinki is the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival in Suvilahti, Sörnäinen.[140]

The city's main musical venues are the Finnish National Opera, the Finlandia concert hall, and the Helsinki Music Centre. The Music Centre also houses a part of the Sibelius Academy. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: the Helsinki Halli or the Helsinki Ice Hall. Helsinki has Finland's largest fairgrounds, the Messukeskus Helsinki, which is attended by more than a million visitors a year.[141]

Helsinki Arena hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, the first Eurovision Song Contest arranged in Finland, following Lordi's win in 2006.[142]

Havis Amanda, a fountain sculpture at the Helsinki Market Square

Strange Fruit performing at the Night of the Arts in Helsinki

The Helsinki Day (Helsinki-päivä) will be celebrated on every 12 June, with numerous entertainment events culminating in an open-air concert.[143][144] Also, the Helsinki Festival is an annual arts and culture festival, which takes place every August (including the Night of the Arts).[145]

At the Senate Square in fall 2010, Finland's largest open-air art exhibition to date took place: About 1.4 million people saw the international exhibition of United Buddy Bears.[146]

Helsinki was the 2012 World Design Capital, in recognition of the use of design as an effective tool for social, cultural, and economic development in the city. In choosing Helsinki, the World Design Capital selection jury highlighted Helsinki's use of 'Embedded Design', which has tied design in the city to innovation, "creating global brands, such as Nokia, Kone, and Marimekko, popular events, like the annual Helsinki Design Week, outstanding education and research institutions, such as the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, and exemplary architects and designers such as Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto".[23]

Helsinki hosts many film festivals. Most of them are small venues, while some have generated interest internationally. The most prolific of these is the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy film festival, also known as Helsinki International Film Festival, which features films on a wide spectrum. Night Visions, on the other hand, focuses on genre cinema, screening horror, fantasy, and science fiction films in very popular movie marathons that last the entire night. Another popular film festival is DocPoint, a festival that focuses solely on documentary cinema.[147][148][149]

Sanomatalo, a current office building of Sanoma Corporation

Today, there are around 200 newspapers, 320 popular magazines, 2,100 professional magazines, 67 commercial radio stations, three digital radio channels, and one nationwide and five national public service radio channels.

Sanoma publishes Finland's journal of record, Helsingin Sanomat, the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, the commerce-oriented Taloussanomat, and the television channel Nelonen. Another Helsinki-based media house, Alma Media, publishes over thirty magazines, including the tabloid Iltalehti, and the commerce-oriented Kauppalehti.

Finland's national public-broadcasting institution Yle operates five television channels and thirteen radio channels in both national languages. Yle is headquartered in the neighbourhood of Pasila. All TV channels are broadcast digitally, both terrestrially and on cable. Yle's studio area houses the 146-metre (479 ft) high television and radio tower, Yle Transmission Tower (Pasilan linkkitorni),[150] which is the third tallest structure in Helsinki and one of Helsinki's most famous landmarks, from the top of which, in good weather, can be seen even as far as Tallinn over the Gulf of Finland.[151]

The commercial television channel MTV3 and commercial radio channel Radio Nova are owned by Nordic Broadcasting (Bonnier and Proventus).

Café Ekberg, the oldest coffeehouse of Helsinki, along the Bulevardi in the Kamppi district

Helsinki was already known in the 18th century for its abundant number of inns and pubs, where both locals and those who landed in the harbor were offered plenty of alcoholic beverages.[152] At that time, taxes on the sale of alcohol were a very significant source of income for Helsinki, and one of the most important sellers of alcohol was Johan Sederholm (1722–1805), a trade councilor who attracted rural merchants with alcohol and made good deals.[152] Gradually, a new kind of beverage culture began to grow in the next century, and as early as 1852, the first café of Finland, Café Ekberg,[153][154] was established by confectioner Fredrik Ekberg (1825–1891) after attending his studies in St. Petersburg. Ekberg has also been said to have created Finland's "national pastry tradition".[155] At first, café culture was only a prerogative of sophisticated elite, when it recently began to take shape as the right of every man.[156] Today, there are several hundred cafés in Helsinki, the most notable of which is Cafe Regatta, which is very popular with foreign tourists.[157][158][159]

As an important port city on the Baltic Sea, Helsinki has long been known for its fish food, and it has recently started to become one of the leading fish food capitals in Northern Europe.[160] Helsinki's Market Square is especially known for its traditional herring market, which has been organized since 1743.[161][162][163][164] Salmon is also a typical Helsinki fish dish, both fried and souped.[165] The most prestigious restaurants specializing in seafood include Restaurant Fisken på Disken.[166][167]

A terrace of the Restaurant Roslund at the Teurastamo area

Helsinki is currently experiencing a period of booming food culture, and it has developed into an internationally acclaimed food city, receiving recognition for promoting food culture.[164][168][169] The local food culture is made up of cuisines from around the world and the fusions they form. Various Asian restaurants such as Chinese, Thai, Indian and Nepalese are particularly prominent in Helsinki's cityscape, but over the past couple of years, restaurants serving Vietnamese food have been very booming.[160] Sushi restaurant buffets have also made their way into the city's restaurant offerings in one fell swoop.[160] The third prominent trend is restaurants serving pure local food, many of which specialize primarily in serving pure Nordic flavors.[160] Also, the Russian cuisine is still relatively strong in these days, one of which is the salty blinis, a thick Russian pancakes fried in a cast iron pan.[170] One of the most significant food culture venues in Helsinki is the general public area known as Teurastamo in the Hermanni district, which operated as the city's slaughterhouse between 1933 and 1992, to which the name of the place also refers.[164][171][172]

A nationwide food carnival called Restaurant Day (Ravintolapäivä) has begun in Helsinki and has traditionally been celebrated since May 2011.[173] The purpose of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and enjoy the common environment with the group.[164]

Vappu is an annual carnival for students and workers on 1 May. The last week of June marks the Helsinki Pride human rights event, which was attended by 100,000 marchers in 2018.[174]

Helsinki region roads

The backbone of Helsinki's motorway network consists of three semicircular beltways, Ring I, Ring II, and Ring III, which connect expressways heading to other parts of Finland, and the western and eastern arteries of Länsiväylä and Itäväylä respectively. While variants of a Keskustatunneli tunnel under the city centre have been repeatedly proposed, as of 2017 the plan remains on the drawing board.

Many important Finnish highways leave Helsinki for various parts of Finland; most of them in the form of motorways, but a few of these exceptions include Vihdintie. The most significant highways are:

• Finnish national road 1/E18 (to Lohja, Salo and Turku)
• Finnish national road 3/E12 (to Hämeenlinna, Tampere and Vaasa)
• Finnish national road 4/E75 (to Lahti, Jyväskylä, Oulu and Rovaniemi)
• Finnish national road 7/E18 (to Porvoo and Kotka).

Old American cars assemble at the Market Square on the evening of the first Friday of every month

Helsinki has some 390 cars per 1000 inhabitants.[182] This is less than in cities of similar population and construction density, such as Brussels' 483 per 1000, Stockholm's 401, and Oslo's 413.[183][184]

Central railway station, inaugurated 1919

Helsinki Central Railway Station is the main terminus of the rail network in Finland. Two rail corridors lead out of Helsinki, the Main Line to the north (to Tampere, Oulu, Rovaniemi), and the Coastal Line to the west (to Turku). The Main Line (päärata), which is the first railway line in Finland, was officially opened on 17 March 1862, between cities of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna.[185] The railway connection to the east branches from the Main Line outside of Helsinki at Kerava, and leads via Lahti to eastern parts of Finland and to Russia.

A majority of intercity passenger services in Finland originate or terminate at the Helsinki Central Railway Station. All major cities in Finland are connected to Helsinki by rail service, with departures several times a day. The most frequent service is to Tampere, with more than 25 intercity departures per day as of 2017. There are international services from Helsinki to Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The Saint Petersburg to Helsinki route is operated by Allegro high-speed trains.

A Helsinki to Tallinn Tunnel has been proposed[186] and agreed upon by representatives of the cities.[187] The rail tunnel would connect Helsinki to the Estonian capital Tallinn, further linking Helsinki to the rest of continental Europe by Rail Baltica.

Air traffic is handled primarily from Helsinki Airport, located approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of Helsinki's downtown area, in the neighbouring city of Vantaa. Helsinki's own airport, Helsinki-Malmi Airport, is mainly used for general and private aviation. Charter flights are available from Hernesaari Heliport.

The South Harbour

Like many other cities, Helsinki was deliberately founded at a location on the sea in order to take advantage of shipping. The freezing of the sea imposed limitations on sea traffic up to the end of the 19th century. But for the last hundred years, the routes leading to Helsinki have been kept open even in winter with the aid of icebreakers, many of them built in the Helsinki Hietalahti shipyard. The arrival and departure of ships has also been a part of everyday life in Helsinki. Regular route traffic from Helsinki to Stockholm, Tallinn, and Saint Petersburg began as far back as 1837. Over 300 cruise ships and 360,000 cruise passengers visit Helsinki annually. There are international cruise ship docks in South Harbour, Katajanokka, West Harbour, and Hernesaari. In terms of combined liner and cruise passengers, the Port of Helsinki overtook the Port of Dover in 2017 to become the busiest passenger port in the world.[188]

Ferry connections to Tallinn, Mariehamn, and Stockholm are serviced by various companies; very popular MS J. L. Runeberg ferry connection to Finland's second oldest city, medieval old town of Porvoo, is also available for tourists.[189] Finnlines passenger-freight ferries to Gdynia, Poland; Travemünde, Germany; and Rostock, Germany are also available. St. Peter Line offers passenger ferry service to Saint Petersburg several times a week.

The Helsinki Metro with its characteristic bright orange trains is the world's northernmost subway.

A tram at the Esplanadi in Kaartinkaupunki, Helsinki

In the Helsinki metropolitan area, public transportation is managed by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority, the metropolitan area transportation authority. The diverse public transport system consists of trams, commuter rail, the metro, bus lines, two ferry lines and a public bike system.

Helsinki's tram system officially began in Helsinki in 1891, when the first trams were horse-drawn; with electric drive, it has been in operation continuously since 1900.[190] 13 routes that cover the inner part of the city are operated. As of 2017, the city is expanding the tram network, with several major tram line construction projects under way. These include the Jokeri light rail (replacing the 550 bus line), roughly along Ring I around the city center, and a new tramway to the island of Laajasalo. Tram line 9 is planned to be extended from Pasila to Ilmala, largely along the new line, and line 6 from Hietalahti first to Eiranranta, later to Hernesaari. New line sections are also planned for the Kalasatama area;[191] construction work on the new tram as the numeber line 13 (Nihti–Kalasatama–Vallilanlaakso–Pasila) has begun in May 2020, and the line is scheduled for completion in 2024.[192] In August 2016, the city council decided to implement the Crown Bridges project, and the goal for the completion of the entire tram connection of the Crown Bridges is 2026.[193]

The commuter rail system includes purpose-built double track for local services in two rail corridors along intercity railways, and the Ring Rail Line, an urban double-track railway with a station at the Helsinki Airport in Vantaa. Electric operation of commuter trains was first begun in 1969, and the system has been gradually expanded since. 15 different services are operated as of 2017, some extending outside of the Helsinki region. The frequent services run at a 10-minute headway in peak traffic.

Helsinki is officially the sister city of Beijing, China (since 2006).[194][195][196] In addition, the city [194] has a special partnership relation with: