Punavuori

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Helsinki coat of arms
Punavuori (Rödbergen)
District No. 5 of Helsinki
map
Coordinates 60 ° 9 '42 "  N , 24 ° 56' 17"  E Coordinates: 60 ° 9 '42 "  N , 24 ° 56' 17"  E
surface 0.42 km²
Residents 8218 (Jan 1, 2006)
Population density 19,567 inhabitants / km²
Jobs 6217 (Dec. 31, 2004)
Source: Helsinki City Statistics Office: Helsinki alueittain 2006 (PDF, 12 MB, Finnish)

Punavuori ( Swedish Rödbergen ) is a sub-area ( Finnish. Osa-alue ) and a district ( kaupunginosa ) of the Finnish capital Helsinki . It is located in the south-western city center, about 1 km from the city center. In Helsinki slang , the district is called Rööperi , a name that for historical reasons has a rather dodgy sound. Similar to the Kallio district , Punavuori was notorious well into the 20th century as a working-class district with poor housing and a high crime rate. Today, however, Punavuori is considered to be one of the trendiest areas in Helsinki.

Historical development

Until the 19th century, the area was only sparsely built on and was dominated by reddish rocks, from which the name of the district, which literally means "Rotberg" or "the Red Mountains", is derived. In the 19th century, the area was initially built with low, simple wooden houses, which were mainly inhabited by workers. In the central eastern part of Punavuori in particular, representative apartment buildings in Art Nouveau style were built in the 1880s , in which middle-class families settled, but the west has changed less. Especially this western part, in which a much larger population than today crowded into a small area and in poorly equipped apartments, suffered from social problems such as alcoholism, crime and prostitution. Punavuori still had a rather bad reputation in the 1950s.

However, in the following decades, Punavuori changed a lot. The old wooden houses were almost all replaced by new multi-storey houses that corresponded to the living standards of the time. In addition, due to the strong growth of Helsinki Punavuori was no longer on the outskirts, but had become part of the inner city. So the social structure also changed over time. Today the area is considered attractive and the price level of the apartments is correspondingly high. The district has a high density of bars and restaurants. The area around the pedestrian street Iso Roobertinkatu (colloquially Roba ) is one of the centers of Helsinki's nightlife. In Punavuori there are an unusually large number of small cafes, shops and, for example, art galleries, even by Finnish standards. The fashion and design shops of Punavuori and the surrounding area are working together to make the area known to tourists as the "Design District".

The Sinebrychoff site

It is worth mentioning the influence that the Sinebrychoff family had on the development of part of Punavuori. The Russian-born trader Nikolai Sinebrychoff, who traded beer and other goods on the fortress island of Suomenlinna , bought a plot of land south of Hietalahdentori Square in western Punavuori in 1819 and built a brewery there. This year is considered to be the founding date of the Sinebrychoff company, which is the oldest industrial brewery company in the Nordic countries . Since production has now moved to other locations in Finland, the former brewery was converted into a residential complex at the beginning of the 21st century.

The former family villa next door, which was completed in 1842, is now the Sinebrychoff Art Museum , which goes back to the private collection of the Sinebrychoffs and is now part of the Finnish National Gallery . The name of the family lives on in the Sinebrychoff Park ( Sinebrychoffin puisto , coll. Koffin puisto ), which is located south of the former brewery site .

  • A street in Punavuori

  • The Sinebrychoff Park

  • The Agricola Church in southern Punavuori

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sinebrychoff . Retrieved April 10, 2008.

Web links

Commons : Punavuori  - collection of images, videos and audio files