Helsinki's market square is a favorite place visited by locals and tourists. There are many cafes and shops with souvenirs, you can walk along the promenade and enjoy the bay and ships, feed cormorants and other seabirds.
Name and location
The Market Square, or Kauppatori (Fin. Kauppatori), is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Helsinki. It is located in the central part of the city, on the seashore, from where ferries departing for the island of Suomenlinna, etc.
The Market Square in Helsinki is occupied by numerous bright orange stalls. There are also a sea harbor, ports with ferries, government buildings, and there is an indoor market hall nearby. To the east of the square is the canal and the residential district Katajanokka, behind which the Assumption Cathedral is located. On the north side is the Presidential Palace, as well as the City Hall, the Embassy of Sweden and the Palace of the Supreme Court. On the west - is located the sculpture-fountain of Havis Amanda, from where the territory of the Esplanade Park begins. In the southern part is the port of Eteläsatama, from where ferries leave with passengers for the cities: Tallinn, Stockholm, etc.
The address of the Market Square in Helsinki is its very name: Kauppatori Square.
History
To the base of the area here, port warehouses were located at this place, but in 1813 it was decided to remove them. The territory was cleared and a special place intended for trade in agricultural products was made. So it appeared in 1815 in Helsinki Market Square. Farmers' boats sailed to the embankment and unloaded the goods directly onto the shelves in the stalls. In 1835, the entire territory was paved with cobblestones.
Then the city government moved here. Now the building of the Helsinki Town Hall, the central administrative center of the city, where the city council and the mayor are working, is entering the square. It was built in 1833 as a hotel according to the project of the architect K. L. Engel, who created most other buildings in this place. The building became a town hall in 1901.
Not far from the square and the Empress’s stele, on the hillside is the Orthodox Assumption Cathedral, dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. The building was designed by A. Gornostaev in 1862-1868. It is considered the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe.
If you walk one block from the sea, you can go to the Senate Square, where the beautiful Helsinki Cathedral is located.
sights
On the western side of the Helsinki Market Square, stands the bronze fountain “Sea Nymph” ( Havis Amanda), which is considered the symbol of the capital of Finland. The sculpture of the woman was made by Ville Wallgren, was cast in Paris in 1906, and then transported to Helsinki in 1908. The author himself gave her the name “Mermaid”, around which sea lions sit. At the beginning of the 20th century, in Finland, sculptures of naked women were not accepted on the streets, so the locals nicknamed the fountain “Shameless Amanda”. In the local press, many representatives of various societies (social democrats, the Union of women, etc.) expressed dissatisfaction with this matter, but over time, conversations subsided.
One of the attractions of the square is the obelisk of Keisarinnankivi ("Empress Stone"): at the top of the stela of red granite is the Golden Ball, crowned with a two-headed eagle, a symbol of the power of the monarchy. It was designed by architect K. L. Engel in honor of the arrival of the Russian Empress Alexandra Fedorovna together with Emperor Nicholas I, installed in 1835. It belongs to one of the oldest monuments in Helsinki, since by that time Finland had already been 25 years old was part of the Russian Empire.
After the revolution in Russia in 1917 and the independence of the country, the monument was demolished. For many years it was kept in the museum, but in 1971 the townspeople asked him to restore it, which was done in the next 1972.
If you walk along the promenade towards the South Harbor, then near the Presidential Palace you can see the old building of the Kauppahalli Covered Market. It has been open since 1889, there are shop windows and counters with any products (from meat, fish to bread), a cafe and a chocolate bar, a liquor store, etc.
Helsinki Market Square: what to buy
Now this territory is used for its intended purpose: here, as in any commercial area of the city, you can buy anything you want for a local resident or a visitor. Bright orange tents sell souvenirs, food (vegetables, fruits, etc.) produced by local farms and artisans.
They also bring here for sale a wide variety of fish caught by Finnish fishermen in the bay. In small cafes, it is immediately prepared according to special recipes. The main national dishes are salmon soup with rye crackers or bread and deer meat cooked according to Finnish recipes.
In addition, you can buy a variety of interesting products:
- seedlings and decorative flowers;
- hides and deer horns;
- Lapland leather belts and hair combs;
- magnets with deer and other souvenirs;
- traditional Kuks birch mugs, which are usually given not only to adults, but even to newborn babies.
All retail outlets on the Market Square in Helsinki operate, as a rule, on weekdays from 7:00 to 17:00, on Saturdays - until 15:00, on Sundays - off.
Bird fight
One of the lively attractions of the Market Square are gulls and cormorants, which in recent years have become a threat to the life and health of visitors. They literally attack and snatch food and even ice cream from people's hands.
At the beginning of each season, stall owners come up with new strategic moves and techniques to scare away birds and protect tourists and visitors from them. In one season, a special net was pulled over the paths between the stalls, but the birds learned how to get under it. In another, they reproduced sound recordings of birds of prey, which were supposed to scare away and scare fear at local “flying pests”.
Local businessmen launched kites in the form of falcons, the first flocks of birds were still scared, but the following were already used to and were not afraid of them. Flags were also hung out, but to no avail. The last measure was the reproduction of the piercing sound of a seagull, which signals its brethren about the danger, which affected many flocks. And people do not notice this sound, but only birds. The positive effect of such recordings was noted by local traders who hope that the fight against “diving cormorants” is now proceeding successfully.
Cultural events and holidays
On the territory of the Market Square in Helsinki, the City Hall often organizes mass events of cultural or commercial purpose: fairs and sales exhibitions, concerts and festivals.
Every year in October, the Baltic Herring Festival (Silakkamarkkinat) takes place on Kauppatori Square, the traditions of which are rooted in 1594 and have remained unchanged for 400 years. By tradition, the holiday became a fair after the end of the fishing season, which also sold other things interesting to residents: dishes, clothes, unique craft products.
Now the gastronomic festival is unusual and interesting, because the herring for the Finns is a real national symbol. This fish is sold in fried and boiled, smoked and salted forms. You can drink it with local Finnish beer. But this is not only a tasting of fish dishes prepared in various ways that the owners of the tents keep secret from visitors. Here tourists will find plenty of entertainment, culinary competitions, master classes and presentations that show Finnish national hospitality.
The Christmas market also always takes place in the last month of the year, and in the summer you can buy very tasty strawberries, currants and other "summer gifts".
In recent years, a tradition has developed on the first Friday of each month in the square to hold a demonstration of old American cars, which both locals and visitors come to see.
Helsinki Market Square: how to get there
The location of Kauppatori is very successful, because several modes of transport are presented here:
- It is easy to get to the Market Square in Helsinki from the ferry, because the parking of marine modes of transport is located right on the bay in the South Bay: from here the "river trams" leave for the Sveaborg fortress (Suomenlinna or Finnish Castle), to the famous Korkesaari Zoo for a walk etc.
- A little further away is the marine station, from where long-distance liners and ferries sail.
- Nearby is the exit of Kaisaniemi Metro Station.
- To get from the railway station to Helsinki's Market Square, you must overcome the distance of only 800 m or take the No. 3T tram to the Eteläranta stop.
Rules of conduct for tourists
The following rules are established on the Market Square:
- it is forbidden to feed the birds (they already find food for themselves);
- bicycles can only be left in designated areas and parking lots;
- all tourists move around the territory on foot, examining tents and souvenirs, in the cafe you can eat and drink coffee or beer.
Reviews
Market Square in Helsinki, according to tourists, is one of the popular local attractions. It is especially interesting to visit the Festival of Herrings in October. Also, many note a wide variety of goods in the summer season: from souvenirs to various berries and fruits.
Many visitors note the great taste and variety of fish dishes, but tourist prices are too high, and local merchants do not like to reduce them. Interestingly, the tents are located only on the square itself, but even on boats.
All tourists who visited the shopping area note its bright national color and its close proximity to ferries that can reach all the popular sights of Helsinki: Suomenlinna Fortress, Korkesaari Zoo and others.