Helsinki Central Railway Station

Interesting facts

Saarinen's prize-winning entry was decorated with eight bears, but he later redesigned the whole building in a more modern spirit after travelling in Europe.

The station stands on a filled-in bay, Kluuvinlahti, once a muddy dumping ground, so about 10,000 wooden piles had to be driven into the ground.

Bedrock beneath the station lies some 20–30 metres down, which is why the building rests on piles rather than on rock.

During the First World War the unfinished station served as a military hospital for about 1,000 patients, and its clock tower as a temporary morgue.

In January 1918, during the Finnish Civil War, the station was seized by the Red Guards.

A fire on 14 June 1950 destroyed some 3,000 square metres of the attic; nobody died, but the damage was uninsured.

Its administrative wing, completed in 1909, was the largest office building in Finland at that time.

The vaults were built in Hennebique reinforced concrete, a French patented system still new when construction began.

Helsinki's first station was so grand an event space that the 1863 opening of the Diet of Finland was celebrated in its hall, on a floor laid over the tracks.

The station's design is said to have inspired the old railway station in Singapore.

Why it is worth it

Few buildings announce a country's arrival in the modern world as clearly as Helsinki's main railway station. The competition for it was held in 1902, when Finland was still a grand duchy of the Russian Empire, and it was won by the young Eliel Saarinen with an entry titled "A winged wheel standing on a globe". The building that went up from 1912 is late Art Nouveau with a strong national romantic accent, built of concrete and iron behind its stone front. The First World War interrupted the work, and the station finally opened on 5 March 1919 — in a newly independent Finland.

The facade is clad in red granite from Hanko, which gives the long, low front a warm, almost burnished tone. Above it rises a clock tower 48.5 metres high, with four faces three metres across, a landmark visible down the city's main streets. The most memorable detail stands at the main door: four giant granite figures by the sculptor Emil Wikström, each cradling a spherical lamp. Known as the Lantern Bearers, they have become one of the most recognisable images of Helsinki, stern and calm at once, and at dusk, when the lamps glow, the whole entrance takes on a slightly ceremonial air.

Inside, the great arched halls keep much of Saarinen's clarity: tall vaults, simple geometry, carefully drawn lamps and signage. It is still a working terminus, and a busy one — around 200,000 people pass through on a typical day, and nineteen tracks fan out behind the building. In 2013 the BBC named it among the ten most beautiful railway stations in the world, and it is easy to see why: a hundred years on, it still feels both modern and rooted in its place.

Getting there

The station stands in the heart of Helsinki, and is linked by an underground passage to the metro station beneath the square. Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL) lies about 16.5 km away; the I and P trains of the Ring Rail Line run between the airport and the station in roughly half an hour.

From the encyclopaedia

Helsinki Central Station (HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. About 200,000 people "pass through the station" every day, half of whom are train passengers. The station serves as the terminus for all trains in the Helsinki commuter rail network, as well as for all Helsinki-bound long-distance trains in Finland. The Rautatientori metro station is located in the same building.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Helsinki Central Railway Station

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia