Monday, June 17, 2019

Suomenlinna - Finland

From Stockholm I went to Finland and went on a boat similar to the one on the 1st postcards, a Viking Line ferry. However I didn't go to Helsinki, I went to Turku. The trip lasted all night, we left Stockholm at 20 p.m. and arrived in Turku around 7 o'clock in the morning.
After the visit to Turku, my friend Anne and I went on to Helsinki, where we met Heidi and Anna-Maria. It was a great day visiting some of the city's attractions, buying and signing postcards. The first of these was sent by me also signed by them.
One of the city's attractions is the Suomenlinna Fortress and being a UNESCO site, of course it had to be on my must visit list. 

Photographed and published by Janne Harala Tmi
Built in the second half of the 18th century by Sweden, (...) this fortress is an especially interesting example of European military architecture of the time.
Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) is a sea fortress, which was built gradually from 1748 onwards on a group of islands belonging to the district of Helsinki. The work was supervised by the Swedish Admiral Augustin Eherensvärd (1710-1772), who adapted Vauban’s theories to the very special geographical features of the region.

The landscape and the architecture of the fortress have been shaped by several historic events. It has served to defend three different sovereign states over the years: the Kingdom of Sweden, the Russian Empire and most recently the Republic of Finland.

FI-734641, sent by Terhi.
Covering an area of 210 ha and consisting of 200 buildings and 6 km of defensive walls, the fortress stretches over six separate islands. The original fortress was built using local rock and fortified with a system of bastions over varied terrain. The purpose of the fortress was originally to defend the Kingdom of Sweden against the Russian Empire and to serve as a fortified army base, complete with a dry dock. Sandbanks, barracks and various other buildings were added during the 19th-century Russian period. The defensive system was adapted to match the requirements of a modern fortress and developed in the 19th century using contemporary fortification equipment.

After Finland gained independence in 1917, the fortress was renamed Suomenlinna (or Fortress of Finland) and served as a garrison and a harbour. The military role of the fortress declined after World War II, and in 1973 the area was converted for civilian purposes. Since then, buildings have been renovated to serve as apartments as well as workspaces, to house private and public services, and for cultural purposes. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/583

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