The capital of Finland surprises its guests with wide sea spaces, a constant flow of fresh air, interesting buildings in the style of "northern" architecture. The streets of Helsinki are neat, clean, somewhat subtly reminiscent of the streets of the northern Russian capital, since the Russian tsars had a hand in the construction of the “daughter of the Baltic”.
The main Russian trace
The city received the title of the capital of the principality of Finland from the Russian Emperor Alexander I in 1812. It was from this year that the builders began to actively develop local territories. Senate Square has become the center of the new capital city, its name in Finnish sounds very melodious - Senaatintori.
This charming square presents the main architectural sights of the Finnish capital, the most famous of which are:
- The Senate, which in the first years after construction hosted a bank, post office, customs and archives;
- University, a kind of reflection of the Senate building;
- The University Library, which is very popular with modern Slavists because of its richest collections;
- Tuomiokirkko, Lutheran Cathedral, the architectural gem of the Senate Square.
A wide staircase leads to the Lutheran Cathedral, from which beautiful views of the city and the harbor open. As a tribute to the memory of the great Russian monarch for the development of Helsinki, the central place on the square is occupied by the monument to Alexander I.
Street in honor of the emperor
Having installed the statue of Alexander I, the inhabitants of Helsinki did not stop, one of the streets in honor of the same politician was named Aleksandrovskaya. It is interesting that it was not renamed, as happened with many other streets of the Finnish capital that had Russian names.
The famous architect Karl Ludwig Engel developed a plan for the development of Aleksandrovskaya Street. According to him, it was assumed that it would be one of the widest in the city. Aleksandrovskaya Street takes its origin from the magnificent Presidential Palace, crosses the famous Senate Square and continues to the meeting point with Mannerheim Avenue.
It is this avenue that is considered the main avenue in Helsinki today, and it also ranks first in the list of streets in length. From the very beginning of the development, it was assumed that he would become a leader, the original name was Bolshaya Ulitsa (in Finnish Suurikatu), another colloquial name, but which can also be found in writing, is Aleksi.
