Suomenlinna

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Suomenlinna
Sveaborg
Suomenlinna from the seaside

Suomenlinna from the seaside

Creation time : 1748
Castle type : Niederungsburg ( Inselburg )
Conservation status: Preserved essential parts
Place: Helsinki
Geographical location 60 ° 8 '52.7 "  N , 24 ° 59' 10.5"  E Coordinates: 60 ° 8 '52.7 "  N , 24 ° 59' 10.5"  E
The King's Gate in the foreground is one of the landmarks of Suomenlinna.
Inside a bastion
Sand walls with cannons by Krupp from Essen from 1870
Beach rocks on Suomenlinna
Finnish submarine Vesikko on Suomenlinna
Tourist ferry

Suomenlinna ( Finnish for "Finnenburg", Swedish: Sveaborg , "Schwedenburg", derived from the former Finnish name Viapori ) is a fortress that was built in the 18th century and is located on several interconnected islands in front of the Finnish capital Helsinki . She is on the list of UNESCO - World Heritage Site and with 900,000 visitors per year, one of the most popular attractions for tourists and locals, which is also the Gibraltar of the North call.

Since the end of their military use in 1973, the islands have been administered by the Ministry of Education and Culture, with the exception of Pikku-Musta Island, which is still home to the Finnish military's naval school . In addition to the historic fortress itself, the islands are also home to several museums and some other facilities, including a prison. The islands work for 400–500 people and are also inhabited by around 850 people. In the official structure of Helsinki , Suomenlinna is a separate district.

investment

The main part of the fortress is located on the islands of Kustaanmiekka, Susisaari, Iso Mustasaari, Pikku-Musta (saari) and Länsi-Musta (saari), which are connected either by bridges or by landfills. All five islands are built on and can be visited (with the exception of Pikku-Musta, which houses the naval school). The fortress also includes the isolated islands of Särkkä, Pormestarinluodot and Lonna. The Suomenlinna district also includes the islands of Vallisaari, Kuninkaansaari, Pukkisaari and Vasikkasaari. The fortress, which is around 80 hectares in size, has around 200 buildings (mostly from the late 18th century) and 105 cannons. The total length of the walls and bastions is 6 km.

The King's Gate is a gate of the fortress located at the southern tip of the fortress by the strait in Kustaansalmi. It was originally the main entrance to the fortress. The King's Gate is a symbol of Suomenlinna.

Suuri linnanpiha on Susisaari and the surrounding buildings represent the administrative center of the fortress. It was built in the baroque style in early 1750 between the Ekeblad and Höpke bastions. In the middle of the central square is the monument to Augustin Ehrensvärds , whose tombstone was King Gustav III. himself supposed to have designed on July 5, 1783. Some of the surrounding buildings were destroyed by artillery fire in the Crimean War; but u. a. the commandant's house remained undamaged and is now a museum dedicated to Ehrensvärd. Linnanpiha is also home to the local major's house, the oldest residential building in Suomenlinna and all of Helsinki.

The Suomenlinna Church is located on Iso-Mustasaari Island. It was built as an Orthodox church in the years 1850-1854 and rededicated in the 1920s as today's Evangelical Lutheran Church. There is a lighthouse at the top of the church. His signal is H for Helsinki.

The museum submarine Vesikko is located on the southeastern tip of Susisaari. It was built in 1933 and was used by the Finnish Navy during World War II.

Kruunulinna Ehrensvärd is a type of defense that consists of two winged buildings and their fronts. King Gustav III laid the foundation stone in 1775. Kruunulinna served to protect the shipyard. Today there are residential buildings, a kindergarten and a ballroom here.

Bastion Zander

The tunnels, which are especially found on Kustaanmiekka and Susisaari, are a popular tourist attraction. Some of them are closed due to the risk of collapse, while others are allowed. The tunnels are not illuminated.

History of the fortress

The construction of the complex was started by the Swedes in 1748 , when Finland was still part of the Kingdom of Sweden. Fortified protection became necessary after Peter the Great achieved a stronger position in the Baltic Sea region with the establishment of Saint Petersburg and Russia tried to assert itself there as a sea power. The young Swedish lieutenant Augustin Ehrensvärd was entrusted with the control of the construction . The Finnish name of the fortress was Viapori from the beginning , based on the Swedish name Sveaborg .

With the beginning of the Russian-Swedish war from 1808-1809, the now commanding officer Carl Olof Cronstedt was given a key position. In March 1808, Russian troops occupied the city of Helsinki, but could not simply take Suomenlinna directly. After negotiations, however, Cronstedt capitulated on May 3, 1808 and left the fortress to the Russians, who could then occupy all of Finland more easily. With this defeat, the 600-year period of Swedish rule over Finland ended.

Under Russian rule, the islands were further built and temporarily occupied by over 13,000 soldiers. The long period of peace ended with the beginning of the Crimean War (1854–1856). The allied forces of France and England shelled Suomenlinna for three days and caused severe damage. In the course of the repairs, the facilities were expanded again.

In 1906 the soldiers of the fortress mutinied, but without far-reaching success. During World War I , Russia used the islands as part of its defense system in the Baltic Sea region.

Only with the Russian Revolution could the Finns finally take over the fortress themselves, after they had achieved independence. With emphasis on its own national identity, the Finnish name of the fortress has therefore been Suomenlinna (Castle of Finland ) since 1918 , while the Swedish name Sveaborg ( Castle of Sweden) refers to the former belonging to Sweden. During the Finnish civil war in 1918, the “ whites ” set up a prison on one of the islands in which 3,000 sympathizers of the “reds” died. The redesign of the former Russian Orthodox garrison church in the inter-war period, in which it was adapted to the style of the classicist Lutheran churches by removing the typical Orthodox domes, documents the Finnish national takeover on the island. During the Second World War , the islands served the Finns as a base for coastal artillery , air defenses and submarines . In the post-war period, the fortress lost its importance and was finally handed over in 1973 by the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Education and Culture for administration.

Even today, Suomenlinna is considered a prime example of military and fortress architecture, which was heavily based on the ideas of the builder Vauban when it was built.

Transport links

Suomenlinna is directly connected to Kauppatori Market Square by a public ferry from Helsinki Transport Authority ( HKL ) . This is served in summer by three ferries, which usually run every 15 to 20 minutes. In winter there is only one ferry (every 40 or 60 minutes). A crossing takes about 15 minutes. The ferry service runs from around 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

It is also possible to use the private JT water buses. The water buses shuttle between the pier on the market square to two different water bus piers (Tykistölahti and Kuninkaanportti) on the island.

There is a tunnel that goes from Kaivopuisto to Suomenlinna. This was built in the years 1976–1980 mainly for water pipes and power lines and may only be used by rescue vehicles and the authorities.

Suomenlinna in literature

Suomenlinna, and in particular the surrender of May 3, 1809, is the subject of the poem Sveaborg from the famous collection of poetry Ensign Stahl by the Finnish-Swedish poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg . The fortress is described here as follows:

The view over hav och fjärd
med ögon i granite,
den lyfter Högt sitt Gustavssvärd
och menar stolt: come hit!
Det svärdet sänks ej för att slå,
the blixtrar blott och krossar så.
Låt bli att defotsigt nalkas ön
då kriget gör sin round;
sturgeon icke drottningen av sjön
i hennes vredes hour:
Hon slungar mot dig dödens bud
i tusende kanoners ljud.

(“She looks over the sea and the fjord / with eyes made of granite, / she lifts up her Gustavssvärd [literally: Gustavssword , Gustavssvärd is the name of a ski jump in Suomenlinna] / and says proudly: Come here! / The sword is not lowered to to fight, / it only flashes and destroys. // Let it go, defiantly approach the island / when the war makes its rounds; / do not disturb the Queen of the Sea / at the moment of her anger: / She hurls the message at you of death / in the sound of thousands of cannons. ")

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.suomenlinna.fi/de/aktivitaten/
  2. ↑ a b http://www.suomenlinna.fi/linnoitus/
  3. ^ William R. Trotter: A Frozen Hell. The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC 1991, ISBN 0-945575-22-X .
  4. ↑ Can one komma till Sveaborg tunnel along the service tunnel? (Swedish)
  5. ↑ Johan Ludvig Runeberg : Fänrik Ståls Sägner. AB Hasselgrens Förlagsbokhandel, Stockholm 1946.

Web links

Commons : Suomenlinna  - collection of images
Wikivoyage: Suomenlinna  - travel guide