Esplanade Park. 헬싱키(Helsinki)

Esplanade Park. 헬싱키(Helsinki). 핀란드(Finland)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a promenade for the gentry to a park for everyone

Helsinki was almost completely destroyed in the fire of 1808. The future capital of the Grand Duchy was provided with a town plan in 1812 in which a promenade was to separate the new stone construction from the colony of wooden houses on the southern margin.

 Architect Carl Ludvig Engel's park plan of 1826 divided the area into three. The eastern end, the modern-day Kappeliesplanadi, was constructed first. It was a fenced area, with the gate being closed at night.

 Esplanade Park grew to its' present size in the 1840's. It was stiil a park for the gentry, who went for a stroll in their best attire, but gradually Esplanade became a popular place to be seen for all strands of society.

 The Kappeli Restaurant (kappeli = chapel) was built in the 1860's in the east of the park on the site where a herdsman was called pastor (pastor = herdsman in Latin) & his milk stall chapel.

 In the western part of Esplanade there has been a theatre since 1827. The facade of the present theatre was rebuilt in 1936.

 The showcase park was turned into cultivated land in 1918 during the time of shortage caused by the First World War.

 Cabbages, swedes & potatoes were grown instead of roses.

 

Decoration all year round

Esplanade's appearance & planting arrangements have changed according to use.

The hallmark of the park today is a harmonious blending of lawn & columns of lime trees, which at the end of the 19th century replaced the fences bording the park.

 At the beginning of the 20th century mounds covered with cactuses & succulents fringed the Runeburg statue. The plants were transferred to the warmth of a winter garden for the winter months.

 Nowadays the statue is graced by plants throughout the year, surrounded in spring by pansies & tulips, in summer by varying groups of flowers, in winter by heather, arborvitae & dwarf pines.

 Esplanade Park was completely renovated in the late 1990's. The lawn areas were extended & more benches provided. Esplanade is no longer merely a place for show, but somewhere to enjoy spending one's time, perhaps with a picnic.

 

Statues

1. Finland's national poet, Johan Ludvig Runegerg

On the pedestal of the statue the Maiden of Finland wreathed in bearskin is leaning against a table containing the words of Runeberg's Maamme ("Our Land") anthem in Swedish. The statue was unveiled on the 6th May, 1885 amid great celebration. There is no mention on the memorial of whom it represents, as at the time it was considered self-evident. The statue was sculpted by the poet's son, Walter Runeberg.

 

2. Taru Ja Totuus ("Fact & Fable"), monument to storyteller Zacharias Topelius

Female figures have in their hands the flame of truth & the crown-headed bird of fable.

The pedestal contains a relief portrait of Topelius. Gunnar Finn's statue was unveiled in November, 1932

 

3. Allottaria ("Water Nymphs") & Hei vann("Hi")

In the 1940's Esplanade was ornamented by fountain statues commissioned from Viktor Jansson. The Aallottaria statue is of two mermaids playing on the waves with a fish.

The sculptor's daughter Tove, the renowned author of the "Moomin" books, modelled for the larger nymph. The Hei vann statue shows a small child playing on the tail of a fish.

 

4. Poet Eino Leino

The statue was unveiled on the 6th July, 1953, the anniversary of the beloved poet's birth. By way of a joke the fellow artists positioned a coin in the hand of the bohemian poet's statue at the casting stage. The sculpture includes a passage from Leino's poem Vaindmoisen laulu ("The song of Vainamoinen"): "Yksi on laulu ylitse muiden ihmisen aattehen hengen ankara laulu" (one is the voice above all others/the stern voice of man's beliefs"). The statue was sculpted by Leino's good friend Lauri Leppanen.

 

- 안내문에서 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Johan Ludvig Runegerg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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