Suomenlinna (Swedish: Sveaborg) is a sea fortress located off
Helsinki. As a historical monument and attraction, its cultural
value is significant, and it is a strong part of Helsinki's
identity. The construction of Suomenlinna started in 1748 and until
1918 it was known in Finnish as Viapor, based on its Swedish name
Sveaborg. Suomenlinna was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in
1991. Suomenlinna is a district of Helsinki where about 800 people
live.
Suomenlinna is one of the most popular tourist
destinations in Finland. In 2019, the fortress was visited by around
one million visitors. Suomenlinna organizes various district and
cultural events throughout the year. There are many cafes and
restaurants located on the islands.
Suomenlinna is renovated
and maintained by the Suomenlinna Management Board, which is a state
agency under the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Nowadays,
the only military institution on the islands is the Naval Academy
located in Pikku Mustasaari. Suomenlinna prison, established in
1971, is located at the southern tip of Iso Mustasaari, under the
authority of the Criminal Sanctions Department. A key part of the
repair work on walls, ramparts and buildings is done as prisoner
work. The prison has places for about 100 prisoners.
The bastion fortress is located on six of the eight islands of the Suomenlinna district. The main fortress was made at Susisaari. The southern Susiluoto fortress was named Kustaanmieka in 1749. Smaller islands are Pikku Mustasaari, Länsi-Mustasaari and Särkkä. The largest is Iso Mustasaari. Kustaanmiekka, Susisaari, Iso Mustasaari, Pikku Mustasaari and Länsi-Mustasaari are connected to each other thanks to either a bridge or an isthmus. The strait that once existed between Susisaari and Kustaanmieka has been filled. On the east side of the group formed by these islands is the Kustaanmieka Strait and on the west side the Särkänsalmi, which are the most important shipping lanes leading from the open sea to Helsinki's Kruunuvuorenselka and Eteläsata. Suomenlinna's land area is 2.21 square kilometers.
Suomenlinna is a popular destination for domestic and foreign
tourists visiting Helsinki, as well as for Helsinki residents.
Suomenlinna is accessible all year round and the fortress is a great
place to visit in all seasons. Linnoitusaari has attractions and
versatile services, such as guided tours, restaurants, cafes,
museums and art exhibitions.
Kuninkaanportti is the gate to
Suomenlinna located at the southern tip of Suomenlinna, on the shore
of the Kustaanmieka strait. It was originally the primary entrance
to the Suomenlinna fortress, and it is generally considered to be
the symbol of Suomenlinna. In the years 1986–2002, its image was
also on the thousand mark banknote.
The large castle yard in
Susisaari with its surrounding buildings is the old administrative
center of the fortress. The part left between the bastions Ekeblad
and Höpke was transformed in the early 1750s into Finland's first
monumental square that applied the principles of late baroque
composition. In the middle of the square is the grave of Augustin
Ehrensvärd, whose tombstone was laid by Gustavus III himself on July
5, 1783. The granite pave was carved by Nils Stenstam. Some of the
buildings surrounding the square were destroyed during the Crimean
War artillery fire, but what remained was, for example, the
commandant's house, which is now the Ehrensvärd Museum. Linnanpiha
is also bordered by Paikallismajur's house, completed in 1756, which
is the oldest apartment building in Suomenlinna and all of Helsinki
that has been in residential use since the beginning.
Suomenlinna church is located in Iso Mustasaari. It was built
between 1850 and 1854 in the Orthodox style with onion towers, but
was changed in the 1920s to its current Lutheran appearance. There
is a beacon on the church tower that flashes four short flashes,
which is H in Morse code for Helsinki.
The museum submarine
Vesikko is located at the southeast tip of Susisaari. Vesikko
graduated in 1933 and served in the Finnish navy during the winter
and continuation wars. You can see Vesikko all year round, and in
the summer months you can get to know the interior of the submarine.
Rantakasarmi The pink-plastered Rantakasarmi is the main gate of
the fortress built in the Russian period. The facilities at the east
end of the beach barracks have a recording studio and work rooms.
The premises of the brewery, the restaurant and the gallery of the
Helsinki artists' society are located in Länsipäädy.
Kruunulinna Ehrensvärd Kruunulinna Ehrensvärd is an equipment type
that consists of two wing buildings and a defensive front between
them. King Gustav III of Sweden laid the foundation stone of the
Crown Castle in 1775. The Crown Castle protected the shipyard area
and the depot, and the shipyard's production and offices were
located in its two wings. Nowadays, Kruunulinna Ehrensvärdi houses,
among other things, the office of Suomenlinna's nursing board, a
daycare center, apartments, and Pirunkirko's banquet hall and
Pajasali, which are rented out to the public for parties and
meetings.
Bastioni Zander Bastioni Zander has had a fortress
flag flying throughout the history of the fortress. Bastion Zander
was built between 1748 and 1750 as part of a chain of four bastions.
In addition, Suomenlinna's tunnels are popular, especially in
Kustaanmieka and Susisaari.
In Suomenlinna, in the northern part of Susisaari, there is a
shipyard where warships were originally built. After the Second World
War, the shipyard was owned by Valmet, and ships handed over to the
Soviet Union as war reparations were built there. The former Suomenlinna
and Korkeasaari ferries were also built there. Suomenlinna shipyard is
the oldest dry dock in Finland.
Today, the Turkulaisvarustamo
Alfons Håkans Oy operates at the Suomenlinna shipyard. The dry dock's
larger indoor pool is 140 meters long and 50 meters wide. The smaller
outdoor pool is 120 meters long and 20 meters wide. A 5 meter deep
channel leads to the dock basins. It is Finland's only dry dock east of
Hanko. It mainly repairs ships of the navy and the border guard, but
also local ships, tugboats and vessels operating on the Saimaa are being
repaired and in winter storage at the shipyard.
Suomenlinna is served by the Suomenlinna ferry of Helsinki Region
Transport (HSL) from Kauppatori daily throughout the year. You can get
to Suomenlinna from Katajanokka by HSL's service ferry on weekdays all
year round. HSL's ferries belong to public transport.
During the
summer months and autumn, the fortress can also be reached by water
buses operated by JT-Line Oy. Tickets for the water buses are bought
from JT-Line. The sea journey takes about 15 minutes.
HSL's ferry
has worked for e.g. M/S Suomenlinna-Sveaborg built in the 1950s. M/S
Suomenlinna II, which replaced the ship, initially had a rather dubious
reputation due to numerous small wrecks.
Suomenlinna also has an
undersea service tunnel, about 1,300 meters long, where district
heating, water and sewer pipes, as well as electricity and telephone
cables run. Only emergency vehicles use the service tunnel. The mouth of
the tunnel is on the mainland side in Kaivopuisto at the Uunisaari pier,
and the end of Suomenlinna is on Länsi-Mustasaari. According to an urban
legend, there is also a tunnel from Suomenlinna to the neighboring
Vallisaari, but that is not true.
Construction background
Sweden had suffered a defeat against
Russia in the War of the Hats in 1741–1743, and had to give up even more
territories in addition to the losses in the Peace of Uusikaupunki in
1721. In the peace of Turku, it lost Kymenlaakso as far as the west
branch of Kymijoki and along with it the border fortress of Hamina. The
city of Loviisa, founded in 1745 on the lands of Degerby's horse farm,
became the frontier town. After the War of the Hats, efforts were made
to strengthen Finland's defense so that in the event of a war, there
would be time to send reinforcements from Sweden to the region. In 1747,
a special fortification commission proposed the construction of
fortifications in Loviisa and Helsinki. The purpose was both to fortify
the cities and to build sea fortresses in front of them.
Construction work
From Sweden's point of view, the central idea was
to have its own coastal fleet for the eastern part of the kingdom and a
base for it, because there would not have been time to send ships from
Karlskrona or Stockholm to protect the eastern border, especially in the
spring when the ice was leaving. Part of the fleet had wintered at
Kruunuvuorenselka already at the time of the Great Hatred. France, on
the other hand, was worried about the growth of Russian influence and
committed to support Sweden's fortification efforts in Finland with
450,000 thalers a year for four years. Construction work on the
Suomenlinna and Svartholma sea fortresses planned for Helsinki and
Loviisa began in 1748. Augustin Ehrensvärd, a fortress officer born in
Västerås, Sweden, was responsible for the design and construction of
both fortresses. In addition to the sea fortresses, the planned land
fortifications were left badly unfinished due to the kingdom's lack of
money and eventually ended completely.
Building material for the
areas was obtained at least from Helsinki pitäjä (now Vantaa),
Santahamina and Espoo's Souka. However, for the most part, the stones
needed to build the walls were mined from the rocks of the islands
themselves. The construction of Suomenlinna was never completed to the
extent that Ehrensvärd intended. In 1756, an archipelago fleet
subordinate to the land forces, Armeija laivasto, was established in
Viapori. During Gustav's war, Viapori served as a repair yard for the
Archipelago fleet and contributed to the victory of the Battle of
Ruotsinsalmi in 1790.
Post office
In 1802, the second post
office in the Helsinki region was established in Viapori, which was due
to the activities of Carl Olof Cronstedt, who served as the commander of
the fortress garrison. Cronstedt was saddened by the disappearance of
the navy's letters and pushed through the establishment of a post office
despite the opposition of the kingdom's postmaster general. Post office
operations ceased in 1808 after the Russians conquered Finland. The
Russians revived the postal service in Viapori, which had served
military purposes, in the mid-1850s during the Eastern War.
At the beginning of the Finnish War in 1808, the Russians arrived in
Finland by land and quickly occupied a large part of southern Finland.
They also laid siege to Viapor, which they reached from the mainland by
ice. After a two-month siege, the fortress led by Cronstedt surrendered
on May 3, 1808.
After Finland became part of Russia in 1809, the
Russians continued to build the fortress according to their own plans.
During Swedish rule, the focus of construction work had been on
Susisaari and Kustaanmieka, which are considered the most interesting
parts of the fortress in terms of construction history. On the other
islands, the fortifications had remained unfinished. During Russian
rule, on the other hand, Iso Mustasaari became the central part of the
fortress, where, among other things, large barracks and a church were
built.
During the Crimean War in 1855, Viapor was shelled by
cannons from French and English warships for two days. In this case,
part of the original buildings of the fortress were destroyed.
In
1906, the Viapori rebellion broke out in the fortress. Viapori served as
the central fortress of Krepost Sveaborg during the First World War. In
addition to the land front that surrounded Helsinki, the fortress also
included the sea front fortresses, such as Miessaari, Rysäkari and
Kuivasaari.
When Finland declared its independence in 1917, Viapori was still in
the possession of the Russian military, but during the civil war they
handed over part of it to the Finnish Reds in March 1918. The Whites
conquered it with the support of the Germans in early April. Suomenlinna
got its current name on May 12, 1918, when the red and yellow lion flag
temporarily used as the flag of Finland was hoisted in Kustaanmieka's
flag vault and eight salute shots were fired with two Russian field
cannons. Distinguished guests were invited to the flag-raising ceremony,
e.g. members of the senate, the city council and several high-ranking
military personnel. They were transported from the market square to the
Viapor pier by the pilot ships Eläkö and Sekstant and the icebreaker
Mercator. At the same time, the military area was annexed to Uusimaa
county. Senator Kyösti Kallio's proposal was behind the name change of
the fortress.
In 1918 and 1919, a large post-civil war prison
camp operated on the islands. Of the 10,000 Red prisoners in the
Suomenlinna prison camp, more than 1,000 died of starvation and disease.
There were 80 executed. Later, the fortress served as a Finnish
garrison. After the Finnish Civil War, the Suomenlinna Fortification
Artillery was established in Suomenlinna on May 7, 1918, under which
name the unit's operations ended on September 15, 1918. Due to the
organizational reform, the Suomenlinna Coast Artillery Battalion
continued its operations from September 16, 1918 to May 13, 1919. Coast
Artillery Regiment 1 was established on May 14, 1919, which operated for
15 . until September 1939.
In the 1920s, the Naval Academy was
located in Suomenlinna. In the years 1921–1936, the aircraft factory of
the Finnish Air Force was located in Suomenlinna. The factory initially
assembled under license Hansa-Brandenburg W.33 water levels, known in
Finland as I.V.L. A.22 Hansa. In 1925, an air defense command was placed
in Suomenlinna, which later turned into a fixed anti-aircraft battery.
In 1939, the fixed anti-aircraft battery was changed to the
Anti-Aircraft Regiment I. During the Second World War, there was also
the main base of Finnish submarines.
Finland's neutrality watch
related to the beginning of the Second World War required an increase in
defense before the joint exercise. On September 16, 1939, the Helsinki
Block was formed, which was valid until September 4, 1940, at the time
of the interim peace. From September 5, 1940 to March 27, 1941, the
Suomenlinna unit was again Coastal Artillery Regiment 1, after which it
became the Suomenlinna Coastal Artillery Regiment from March 28, 1941 to
June 16, 1941. In order to prepare for the next war, the unit was also
expanded to moderately contain coastal forces as the 1st Coastal
Brigade, based on the experience of the winter war of the coastal
artillery regiments, on June 17 For the period between 1941 and December
31, 1941, after which it was named Uusimaa Coastal Brigade for the
period between January 1, 1942 and November 30, 1944. After this, the
unit became the Coastal Fortification of Suomenlinna from December 1,
1944 to November 30, 1952. After that, it was renamed Coastal Artillery
Regiment 1 for the third time from December 1, 1952 to December 31,
1956. After this, the mass unit became the Coastal Artillery Regiment of
Suomenlinna from January 1, 1957.
Until 1948, you could only get
to Suomenlinna with a written landing permit. At that time, the islands
were opened to the public for an entrance fee charged by the Finnish
Tourist Association, although they were still under the control of the
Finnish Defense Forces as a garrison. In 1972, the fortress was finally
transferred to civilian administration. The only military institution
there remained the Naval Academy. The following year, the Suomenlinna
Administration under the Ministry of Education was established to manage
the islands.
In 1983, the Suomenlinna administration was awarded
the SAFA award for the restoration work of Suomenlinna. In 1991, Unesco
added Suomenlinna to its world heritage list. Suomenlinna received the
Europa Nostra award for expert and high-quality restoration work in
1999. In the same year, the provincial board of the Uusimaa Federation
chose Suomenlinna as Uusimaa village of the year.
In the 2016 agglomeration delimitation, Suomenlinna formed its own
agglomeration with an area of 0.63 square kilometers. The agglomeration
had 748 inhabitants, and with a population density of 1,195
inhabitants/km², it was the fifth most densely populated of the
agglomerations in Finland.
In the northwestern part of Iso
Mustasaari, there is an archive and museum cave used by the management
board.