Vanhakaupunki

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Helsinki coat of arms
Vanhakaupunki (Gammelstaden)
District No. 27 of Helsinki
map
Coordinates 60 ° 12 '58 "  N , 24 ° 58' 44"  E Coordinates: 60 ° 12 '58 "  N , 24 ° 58' 44"  E
surface 0.32 km²
Residents 809 (Jan. 1, 2018)
Population density 2528 inhabitants / km²
Jobs 899 (December 31, 2004)
Source: Helsinki City Statistics Office: Helsingin tilastollinen vuosikirja 2018 (PDF, 6.9 MB, Finnish / Swedish / English), Helsinki alueittain 2006 (PDF, 12 MB, Finnish)

Vanhakaupunki ( Swedish. Gammelstaden , German Old Town ) is the former old town of the Finnish capital Helsinki . It is located about 6 km north of the city center at the mouth of the Vantaanjoki in the bay Vanhankaupunginlahti ("Old Town Bay"). Helsinki was founded on this site in 1550. Today almost nothing is left of this former old town. Vanhakaupunki is now a sub-area ( Finnish. Osa-alue ) and at the same time a district (kaupunginosa) of Helsinki.

history

By order of King Gustav Vasa of Sweden , Helsinki (then Helsingfors) was founded on June 12, 1550 on the site of the medieval village of Koskela (Forsby). The city should match the time for Teutonic Knights belonging Hanseatic city of Reval (now Tallinn compete) to international maritime trade. The residents of Rauma (Raumo), Ekenäs , Ulvila (Ulfsby) and Porvoo (Borgå) were instructed to move to the newly founded Helsinki.

Helsinki's early history was not a lucky star. Only eleven years after Helsinki was founded, Sweden managed to conquer Tallinn, which made the establishment of Helsinki less important. Helsinki was destroyed by fire in connection with a Russian attack in the winter of 1570, and a plague epidemic broke out the following summer. At the end of the 16th century the city had only 500 inhabitants. The location of the city - at the far end of the gradually silting Vanhankaupunginlahti Bay - also proved to be unfavorable for shipping.

In 1640 it was decided to start over and move the city closer to the open sea, in the place of today's historical center of Helsinki (the area of ​​the Senate Square ). The original Helsinki, from now on called "Old Town", was abandoned and gradually fell into disrepair.

Practically nothing of the original old town has survived today, as all the houses were made of wood. All that can be seen is the approx. 10 x 20 m stone foundation of Helsinki's first church (1550s). After all, the approximate site plan of the old town is known from a map made in 1645. Archaeological digs have unearthed some material that can be seen today in the Helsinki City Museum.

present

Vanhakaupunki only received new life a good 100 years ago as one of the suburbs of the now rapidly growing Helsinki. A residential area with traditional small wooden houses was created. At a rapids in Vantaanjoki, a water treatment plant and a hydroelectric power plant were also built, which still provide electricity today. Part of the complex was later converted into a power plant museum (Voimalamuseo) ; part of it now houses the Helsinki Museum of Technology (Tekniikan museo) .

The actual district (Finnish: kaupunginosa ) Vanhakaupunki is only 0.32 km² in size and has only approx. 800 inhabitants (2018) and approx. 850 jobs. It only consists of a sub-area that is also called Vanhakaupunki. There is also a district (Finnish. Peruspiiri ) called Vanhakaupunki, which also includes the sub-areas Toukola , Käpylä , Koskela , Kumpula and Arabianranta and has an area of ​​5.38 km² and a population of around 25,000.

A popular excursion destination in Vanhakaupunki is the green area on the coast of the bay, which is part of the Natura 2000 nature conservation program of the European Union . The extensive reed areas near the river mouth are of particular interest to ornithologists , as a total of 285 different, sometimes rare, bird species have been observed there so far. Several publicly accessible observation towers were created for this purpose.

  • Map from 1645

  • Map from 1645 (detail)

  • Stone foundation of the former church in Vanhakaupunki (approx. 1550)

  • Waterfall in Vantaanjoki

  • Bird watching tower on the Pornaistenniemi Peninsula

  • Obelisk in Vanhakaupunki in memory of the Helsinki Parliament in 1616

and display information about the image
View of Vanhakaupunki and the estuary

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helsingin tilastollinen vuosikirja 2018 , 106th edition, City of Helsinki, Executive Office, Urban Research and Statistics, Helsinki, Finland January 7, 2019.