There are lots of interesting hidden things in Helsinki, and after living here for more than two years we’re starting to spot more and more things that we’ve some how missed before. We’ve written about some of them in our “City surprises” blog posts, but have decided to present some new finds in a different format… do you think can can recognize these gems that are hidden in plain sight in downtown Helsinki? Leave your answers in the comment below and we’ll let you know if you are right!
[UPDATED 5 June 2013] We’ve now added the answers at the bottom of this blog post… so scroll down to the end to see if you are correct!
Let’s start with an easy one – where do you think photo #1 was taken?
And how about photo #2?
Number 3 is pretty tricky… any idea where this pair of photos was taken?
Number 4 will be easy for some of you…
This is a tough one… where is Photo #5 taken?
And a last one… Photo #6 – any ideas where we were when we took this photo?
Leave your answers in the comments section below! We’ll tell you if you are correct and will post the answers in a month’s time.
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Answers:
1. The central pond at Kaisaniemi Botanical Garden – these two eagles were sculpted by Bertel Nilsson in 1913 (more details from the Helsinki Art Museum’s public art webpage). This is a lovely park close to the city centre to visit, even in winter when the glasshouses provide a green oasis.
2. This is one of the sculptures in Maria Duncker’s “Too Heavy Guests” series, located in Talberginkatu
(Ruoholahti). We’ve previously blogged about the sculptures here.
3. These two figures stand inside the H&M store on Aleksanterinkatu (downtown Helsinki). They are easy to miss…
4. This is an installation in the Ruoholahti Metro station by Juhana Blomstedt (1993). According to the Helsinki Art Museum “The cool blue-white tiles reflect the maritime location and ambience of the Ruoholahti harbour district and the stepped round structure on the platform is characteristic of a Medieval piazza.”
5. This is detail on the main door of a lovely old building on the corner of Mikonkatu and Ateneuminkuja (now
containing the Amarillo restaurant; opposite the big InterSport store, one city block away from the central railway station).
6. We took this photo from the Panoraama ride at Linnanmäki. It is one of the free rides in the park, and has amazing views – so go take a ride when you are next in the area!
Riikka
May 13, 2013 — 6:20 am
I expect that you were on the roof of Linnanmäki old water tower when you took that picture.
Pete
May 13, 2013 — 8:21 am
That’s a very good guess for photo #6 – you are right that the photo was taken from Linnanmäki, but we were higher than the old water tower… another guess?