Suomenlinna finland. Sveaborg (Suomenlina) - “The most famous attraction in Helsinki is the Sveaborg sea fortress

In the middle of the 18th century, on the outskirts of Helsinki, the construction of a defensive fortress was laid, which over time was built, completed and rebuilt over several centuries, having survived many wars, passing from hand to hand and protecting the borders of various states of Sweden, Russia and Finland.

Today the fortress has lost its military power and acquired historical value as a cultural heritage, as an example of military culture.

Getting to the islands (by the way, there are already four of them: Lansi-Mustasaari, Pikku-Mustasaari, Susisaari and Iso-Mustasaari. Although some on the Internet write that there are eight), especially in summer, does not present any problems. Ferries to the fortress leave every half hour - 5 € (round trip ticket, valid for 12 hours + free card) and you are there. You can also take a water tram - 7 €. Yes, a little more expensive, but the tram will take you directly to the most beautiful place in the fortress - the Royal Gate.

We sail to the island by ferry and disembark at the main pier of the island of Iso Mustasaari. This means that we have to walk the entire blue route suggested in the information brochure.

The island of Iso-Mustasaari seemed to me not very interesting from the point of view of a tourist. Here are the old barracks, where people working on the island now live. By the way, there is even a school, a kindergarten, a grocery store, a hostel "Suomenlinna", a library and a fitness center on the island, a whole cloud of rooms for conferences and various celebrations, galleries and art workshops. There are cafes and restaurants. And on the ferries between the island and Helsinki, there are special places for one or two cars, so that the inhabitants of the island do not feel isolated or deprived of the opportunity to have a car :)

"Vanille" is one of the few cafes open all year round in Suomenlinna

There is also an old temple on the island. Earlier, a long time ago, it was a Russian Orthodox, the Finns converted it and turned it into a Lutheran one. We walked in and ... we walked out after taking a couple of pictures.

The green lawns of the island were empty, which is strange. Usually in such park places, here and there, you can always see either a couple in love, or mothers with children, or owners walking their four-legged friends. Only once did we see a large group of keen yogis :)

While we wandered around the island of Iso-Mustasaari, the sun was shining and pleasing, but on Sussissaari the weather began to deteriorate. A piercing wind rose and leaden clouds appeared far over the horizon. Lord, at least it didn't rain!

Susisaari Island, to which a snow-white bridge leads, can rightfully be considered the highlight of Suomenlinna Fortress. Here in the summer, in good sunny weather, you can spend the whole day and it will not be boring. We were not bored even in the cold. Yes, well, they didn’t lie on the beach, but they climbed the fortress walls and hills that turned out to be dugouts, explored the fortress bastions, fleeing the wind, studied the calibers of Russian cannons, looked into all the places where you can look and where you can hide from the wind.

In one of the dozen reviews I reviewed, before visiting the fortress, I read and even outlined (because she simply killed me with the depth of knowledge of military affairs) the following phrase "On some redoubts, you can go to caponiers for gun servants." Kapets, I don't even know such words! :) Maybe I have seen these redoubts and caponiers, but I will not be able to pinpoint them with my finger. Only if you guess :)

At first we didn't go to museums, and then it was too late. It started to rain, and we barely managed to run to a cozy cafe located in a lonely house on a hill in the magnificent Piper Park.

But the first thing we did was to visit the submarine museum on Susisaari.

Submarine Vesikko

Personally, for the first time in my life, I was on a submarine. Let it be small, let it be tiny, let it be old, but underwater! Just a fountain of emotions!

Museum prices submarine "Vesikko"

I don't know how and how long you can hold out in a confined and highly confined space, knowing that you are under water. How can you even withstand the terrible neighborhood of a working mechanism and not be able to sleep peacefully. Divers, are they generally human?

Well, okay, I can admit that you can go down for some, (clarify) short, time under the water. I even admit that you can probably calmly lie down on those tiny beds. But how in this tin can you can keep track of all the arrows on a hundred devices ?!

Summer cafe Piper

As soon as we passed the route suggested by the organizers, it started to rain. At first I just sprinkled it, but then it just turned into a wall of water. The rain and lunchtime seemed to have conspired to meet in the Suomenlinna fortress. And we took the opportunity to look into a lonely house on the edge of Piper Park - the summer cafe "Piper"

Everyone was hiding from the rain, and people were packed inside like herrings in a barrel. Therefore, having made a good choice of Finnish soup - freshly brewed and hot (which was just wonderful, given our degree of icing), and not a very good choice of dessert - some kind of puff pastry in sugar (the cake looked beautiful and appetizing, but the taste was simple, without enthusiasm) and coffee (which neutralized the defeat of the biscuit): So what am I talking about? AND! Having made a choice, we went out onto the veranda, found the only table on which no raindrops fell, and in the company of sparrows enjoyed the Finnish rain and peace.

Suomenlinna is one of Helsinki's most curious sights, a great place to walk, dine and even spend the night. This open-air museum is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Suomenlinna, that is, "Finnish fortress" (or, in the second state language of Finland - Sveaborg) is a sea bastion built on several islands in order to protect the entrance to the harbor of the Finnish capital. The first fortress was erected during the Swedish rule - in 1748-1772. However, she could not resist the Russian troops - she fell in 1808, and after her, all of Finland came under the rule of the Russian Empire. And much later, in 1855 - during the Crimean War - she was able to repulse the Anglo-French squadron. Then the walls were completed and rebuilt, so now we see the "Russian version" of the "Finnish fortress".

Why go to the island in Suomenlinna

Firstly, an excursion to the island is a pleasant walk along the sea, and, by the way, it will cost less than 1-2 hour excursions offered on the waterfront. From the water you can see (from an unusual angle!) Most of the city's attractions.

Secondly, Suomenlinna is a great place for a walk and picnic in fine weather. A dozen establishments operate on the territory of the fortress, among which there is even a brewery restaurant.

Thirdly, to stay inexpensive - Hostel Suomenlinna is open on one of the islands.

And, finally, those who are interested in history will be curious to stroll through the outstanding fortification, see the preserved forts and bastions, visit the military and customs museums, as well as on a submarine.

And on the main island of Suomenlinna, there is an "open-type" male prison that prepares prisoners for a life of freedom. The prisoners work on the island or go to the "mainland", receive a salary and pay with it for their maintenance.

How to get to Suomenlinna

Very simple! From the Market Square (Kauppatori) to the fortress from 6 am to 2 am ferries run from 2 to 4 times an hour, depending on the day of the week and the time of year. Travel time is approximately 20 minutes. Regular public transport tickets are valid on these ferries. That is, if you bought a subscription for a day, then you can go to the island on it.

• Forgot to do this in advance? No problem! In the information center of the fortress (it is located in the first building that you see from the pier) there is free wi-fi.

Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) on \u200b\u200bthe map

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In 1703, Peter the Great founded the new capital of the empire - St. Petersburg, located in the water area of \u200b\u200bthe Gulf of Finland. The powerful military base Kronstadt, founded in the same year on Kotlin Island, 27 km west of the mouth of the Neva, was supposed to protect the sea approaches to the new capital.
After reaching the Baltic Sea during the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, the Russian Empire became a powerful force in the Baltic that had to be reckoned with.

This situation endangered the safety of Sweden; Russian naval vessels could directly attack the coast of southern Finland, which was part of the Kingdom of Sweden. Other European powers, and especially France, which entered into a military alliance with the Swedish crown, had their own interests in this region.
After lengthy debates, in 1747 the Swedish parliament made a decision to strengthen the Russian-Swedish border and begin to build a naval fortress to guard Helsinki, as a counterweight to Kronstadt. It was also decided to establish border fortifications in Loviisa.

Sweden began construction of the fortress in January 1748, when Augustin Ehrensvärd, a young colonel in the Swedish army, traveled to the southern reaches of the kingdom to coordinate construction. The fortifications were designed according to the prescription of the Vauban fortification system, the advanced military engineering of the time. In addition to the defenses on the islands, a system of fortifications was added on the mainland, which guaranteed the safety of the fortress from the enemy creating a foothold for attack. The tasks of Sveaborg also included the provision of ammunition, if necessary, to the Finnish group of the Swedish Army and the Royal Navy.
The fortress was built with French money and was to become the "Northern Gibraltar".
Construction continued until 1772.

After the treaty between Alexander the First and Napoleon Bonaparte, Russia began a military campaign against Sweden, as a result of which in 1809 Finland came under the rule of the Russian crown and became an autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire. The Swedish period of Finnish history, which lasted more than 700 years, is over.

The fortress did not fulfill the functions assigned to it and did not fight to the victorious end in a hopeless war. Russian troops easily took Helsinki and began shelling Sveaborg. The commandant of the fortress, Karl Olof Kronstedt, concluded a truce with the Russian military command, but without waiting for reinforcements by May, he surrendered the fortress along with 7,000 of its defenders. The reasons for this act by Kronstedt remain somewhat unclear. But a hopeless situation, a psychological victory for the Russian troops, perhaps some bribed advisers, fear for the life of a large number of civilians, a shortage of gunpowder and all this, against the background of complete isolation, are likely reasons for surrender.
During the Napoleonic Wars, most of the fortresses in Germany surrendered, after only a few weeks of siege, the era of fortresses was drawing to a close.

Russian period

The long period of peace that followed the annexation of Finland to Russia was interrupted by the Crimean War of 1854-1856. The Allies, in order to weaken the military presence of Russia in the south, decided to open a second front, sending the Anglo-French fleet to the Baltic Sea. For two years, the combined fleet shelled cities and fortifications along the Finnish coast. As a result of the 47-hour shelling, the fortress was badly damaged. After the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1856, extensive work began on the restoration of the fortifications.
New defensive fortifications were erected on the southern parts of the island ridge. The next stage of the military build-up in the fortress was dictated by the First World War; Suomenlinna and its nearby islands became part of the naval fortification "Peter the Great", designed to protect the capital of the empire - St. Petersburg.
Not long before that, in 1906, a riot broke out in the fortress. The rebels were led by warrant officers Kmelyanov and Kokhansky. Having put forward political demands, they expected the approach and support of the Russian fleet, but the ships that approached suppressed the riot that had arisen in the fortress garrison; the rioters were shot. Their graves on the territory of the fortress became the first joint Finnish-Russian mass graves.

Finnish period

After Finland gained independence in December 1917, the fortress became Finnish and received a new name - Suomenlinna, which means "Finnish fortress".
In 1918, dark times came in the history of Suomenlinna - it served as a concentration camp for the captured Reds, many of whom died there from hunger and disease.
For many years Suomenlinna was under the jurisdiction of the Finnish army, and only in 1973 the administration of the islands, on which the fortress is located, was transferred to the civil administration.

Modernity

In 1991, Suomenlinna was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Today Suomenlinna is a huge open-air museum spread over six islands: Gustav Sword (Kustaanmiekka), Small Black Island (Pikku Mustasaari), Big Black Island (Iso Mustasaari), Western Black Island (Länsi-Mustasaari) and Wolf Island (Susisaari).
Well-preserved forts, bastions and fortress buildings attract tourists from Finland and other countries. There are many museums on the islands: the Suomenlinna Museum with an exposition on the history of the fortress, the Coastal Artillery Museum, the Vesikko submarine, the Manezh military museum, the Customs Museum, the Toy Museum. In the Shore Barracks Gallery and the August Gallery, you can see the products of the fortress's art workshops.
Suomenlinna Fortress hosts various events : in summer - sailing race "Viaporin Tuoppi" (Cup of Sveaborg) and jazz festival "Viapori Jazz", in winter - Christmas concerts and holidays. On the island of Susisaari, a summer theater is located in an old bastion.
The fortress-museum still keeps old military traditions. The Naval Academy is still located on Maly Black Island. The building of the academy was built in 1821-1829 according to the project of Karl Ludwig Engel.

Suomenlinna is not only an open-air museum, but also a district of Helsinki with a permanent population of about 900 people, 350 of whom have a permanent place of work. You can get to the fortress from Helsinki by ferry , which depart from morning to evening from the eastern side of the Market Square (Kauppatori).

Important dates in the history of the fortress

• 1748: Construction of the fortress begins under the leadership of Augustin Ehrenswäld.
• 1808: Suomenlinna capitulates to the Russian army without any serious resistance.
• 1809: According to the Paris Peace, Finland becomes part of the Russian Empire
• 1855: Crimean War: artillery shelling of Suomenlinna by the Anglo-French fleet, as a result of which the fortress was subjected to great destruction.
• 1906: Riot of the fortress garrison.
• 1914-1917: Reinforcement of Sumenlinna's defenses.
• 1918: The name Suomenlinna becomes the official name of the fortress.
• 1973: The fortress is taken over by the military and becomes one of the civilian areas of Helsinki.
• 1991: Suomenlinna is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
• 1998: Suomenlinna's 250th birthday.

Guided tours of the fortress

A license is required for guided tours of Suomenlinna Fortress. Only members of the Ehrensvärd Society are authorized guides. Guided tours run daily from June to August in Finnish, Swedish, English etc.

Suomenlinna Fortress or Sveaborg- these are 4 islands off the coast of the city of Helsinki, formerly also called Suomenlinna, this is a bright symbol of the city of Helsinki. Erected by the French and intended to become “Northern Gibraltar.” Suomenlinna is now a functioning open-air museum.

History of origin.

Under the Swedes, the fortress was called Sveaborg - i.e. Swedish fortress. The Finns called her Viapori. The history of Suomenlinna Fortress is closely related to the history of Finland, Helsinki and the Baltic Sea. The Suomenlinna Fortress appeared on the map of Finland in the nineteenth century. An important defensive line from the east, the fortress passed to Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, and, in addition to the naval bases in Tallinn and Kronstadt, it was used to guard the fairways leading to St. Petersburg.

Architecture.

Suomenlinna Fortress is a complex of chaotically located bastions built on small rocky islands. The defensive structures and structures of the fortress from the very beginning were also used for utilitarian needs. Suomenlinna is largely authentic, that is, a historically original structure. Dozens of underwater historical sites have been discovered not far from Suomenlinna Fortress.

Neighborhood.

In the immediate vicinity is the Suomenlinna Fortress Museum (Suomenlinna-museo). The museum contains unique specimens of the pre-revolutionary artillery of Imperial Russia - for example, a 6-inch siege cannon of the 1904 model and other weapons. In the collection of the Toy Museum you will find thousands of objects and things for children, the oldest of which were made at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. In addition, the museum has a separate room with military toys. The Ehrensvärd Museum displays miniature ship models, antique furniture, weapons and paintings by the Sveaborg artist Elias Martin. Here you can also visit the Military Museum in the Manezh, which is located in a building that was previously used by the Russian army as an artillery warehouse. Nowadays, Finnish military equipment is exhibited there.
You can also see the Vesikko submarine, which was used during the Second World War. Inside the boat, almost all premises are open to the public.

Tourist notes.

The Suomenlinna Museum is open all year round, from May to October it is open from 10:00 to 18:00, the rest of the time it opens half an hour later and closes at 16:30.
The Ehrensvärd Museum is open throughout the summer season from 11:00 to 18:00, and in the spring and autumn only on weekends, from 11:00 to 16:00.
The Toy Museum is open to visitors only from March to October, from 11:00 to 17:00.
The military museum is open from mid-May to September, from 11:00 to 18:00, for adults the entrance ticket costs 4 euros, for children under 17 years old - 2 euros.
Admission to the submarine is also open from mid-May to September, from 11:00 to 18:00, the cost of an admission ticket for adults is 4 euros, for children under 17 years old - 2 euros.
Hostel Suomenlinna is located on the territory of the fortress on the island of Iso Mustasaari.
You can have a bite to eat at Café Vanille, which offers excellent desserts, or at Café Piper, in the summertime you can dine here in the garden, which is decorated in English style. The Toy Museum Café will be interesting for you - you can have tea with desserts inside a real toy museum. And for true gourmets in Sveaborg, the Walhalla restaurant is open, which will offer you a large selection of dishes and a rich wine list.

X i want to tell you about Sveaborg - a Swedish fortress located on several islands.
It was once the key to Helsinki and all of Finland ... and Finland itself was a Swedish province. It was the Swedes who built the fortress and invested a lot of money in it, hoping for its inaccessibility. This is a place with an ambiguous fate. A fortress that did not live up to the hopes placed on it. A tourist can only get to the fortress by ferry. It is located on the islands and has more than 6 km of fortress walls and fortifications.

Strong and colorful and powerful. You can see it right away.

The wall in places of monstrous thickness ...

Its construction began in 1748. Instead of the planned 4 years, it lasted 40 and was never completed in the form in which its creator, Augustine Erensward, conceived. Under the Swedes, the fortress was called Sveaborg - i.e. Swedish fortress. The Finns called her Viapori, and when the Russians left and Finland gained complete independence - Suomenlinna, which means a Finnish fortress ...)))))

The construction was supervised by Augustin Ehrensvärd, an architect, shipbuilder, naval and artillery officer. There were only two passions in his life - Sveaborg and women of the navy. The man was fanatically devoted to his work.

If there were not enough funds for construction, he could give his salary and even cut off the silver insignia. Augustine was here a planner, architect, manager, hirer and house manager; and in addition, every year he persuaded Stockholm not to cut off funding for the largest construction project in the country (the first eighteen years of construction cost the crown 90 barrels of gold).

For ardor and diligence, Count Ehrenswerd received the rank of Marshal. He died in 1774 and was buried in the fortress, never seeing his creation completed ...

Above in the photo is his grave ...

The catacombs here are capital, but more about them later.

Alas, I didn't have a good camera with me)))

There was everything. And food supplies for long sieges and a dry dock for ship repairs and bomb-proof barracks.

The gate at the fortress is cunning, double. If one is open, the second is necessarily closed and vice versa. This creates an impossible surprise attack by the enemy and a large capacity, even if the enemy himself opens them.

There is a moat under the bridges ...

Despite all the most modern construction at that time, on May 4, 1808, Russian troops laid siege to the fortress and it was taken. Surprisingly, but this happened after a short siege, despite the obvious superiority of the Swedes in artillery (1000 guns against 40 Russian) !!! Out of 8 thousand garrison, ONLY 5 people died.

HOW WHEN THE FORTRESS TAKEN, THE RUSSIAN SMEKALKA WORKED

It is not known for certain why the fortress surrendered, but there is a version that during the winter siege, the wives of the Swedish officers, yearning for their husbands, got insolence and asked the Russians to go to their husbands for a visit ... the Russians let them in and even gave transport and security. The wives went to the fortress all winter, and ours constantly told them that resistance was useless, that a Russian squadron would come in the spring and many in the fortress would die from the assault and shelling ... why unnecessary casualties?
Ours offered the Swedes to persuade their husbands to surrender. In return, they promised freedom of movement, and their husbands continued to serve in the fortress, but to the Russian emperor, with a possible increase in salary ...

In the spring, the commandant of the fortress invited the Russian commander and informed him that if the Russian squadron approached the fortress faster than the Swedish one, he would surrender the fortress.

,
If you believe Google, this is the Russian squadron, and I believe Google even more than Weller)))

So, in the spring the Russian squadron came, and the Swedes were late ... and the fortress surrendered without a single shot. So the Swedish women deprived Sweden of the province, but kept their husbands. The huge funds spent on the construction of the fortress were wasted ...

Many from the garrison of the fortress remained to live in Helsinki, some returned to Sweden.
The commandant of the fortress, Admiral Kronstedt, was put on trial on charges of treason, and his relatives in Sweden were forced to change their names ...

The Swedish tribunal sentenced the commandant to death, but the Russian emperor canceled this decision and was not disobeyed and Kronstedt was released ... such was the respect for the Russian emperor)))))

In 1809, Finland became part of the Russian Empire (Peace of Friedrichsgam).

ONE ANOTHER CASE WHEN THE RUSSIAN BRIDALES HELPED

On August 6, 1855, an Anglo-French squadron appeared under the walls of the fortress. The Crimean War was going on and the allies who fought against the Russian Empire decided, in modern terms, to pull apart the enemy grouping. On August 9, shelling began. The outdated serf weapons could not cause any tangible harm to the allied fleet. There were simply no long-range guns. The shelling lasted for three days. There were heavy losses among the garrison and destruction in the fortress.

There is a legend that the fortress was happily saved. During the siege, the Russians took an inventory of gunpowder and weapons and found old long-range Swedish guns in a warehouse. They rolled three of them onto the wall, loaded them down and in the evening fired towards the enemy squadron. With these shots, they sank one ship and seriously damaged another. The British and French decided that reinforcements had come to the Russians and long-range artillery appeared. Further siege became dangerous. At night, the British and French raised anchors and went to sea - the siege was lifted.

After the Crimean War, the fortress was reconstructed, new fortifications and artillery positions were built, more modern guns were installed.

There is a church on the territory of the fortress. Ours built it for it, and its fence from Swedish weapons is very similar to the fence at the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg ... the church is unique, at night it plays the role of a lighthouse.

Russian barracks ... they were built by our soldiers after the capture of the fortress.

1906 - uprising of the Sveaborg garrison. The reason was the arrest by the commandant of the fortress of a mine company in full force. In July, a strong fermentation began in the part of the Baltic squadron stationed in Reval. In order to prevent the landing of sailors on the islands of the Sveaborg fortress, the commandant gave the order to place mines at the entrance to the Sveaborg raid. For disobeying the order, the miners were surrounded by infantry, disarmed and placed under arrest. The artillerymen (3 companies) decided to free their comrades.

The subsequent bloody battle between the gunners and two companies of the 1st Sveaborg fortress battalion was the beginning of this famous uprising. The uprising was suppressed by the forces of the Sveaborg fortress regiment and ships of the Baltic Fleet.

The fortress also has an extensive system of underground passages. The stone walls are amazingly preserved today. Only there it is terribly dark and there are puddles ... and quite deep ... fortunately, at least it was not mined)))) I tried to wander there and went out with wet feet))) but I removed several passages))) You can walk along them ... and even get lost))))

It's not very pleasant to walk there)))

In World War I, Sveaborg was part of the flank-skerry position of the Peter the Great Fortress and was used as a base for the mine fleet.

The Sveaborg fortress and the surrounding islands became part of the "Peter the Great sea fortress", which was supposed to protect St. Petersburg.

During the Finnish Civil War (summer 1918) there was a concentration camp for Finnish Red Guards, many of whom died of hunger and disease. Since that time, the fortress is called Suomenlina (Finnish fortress) and serves as the naval base of the Finnish state.

During the Winter War, the fortress was bombed several times by Soviet aviation, however, without much success ...

Nowadays Sveaborg is a cultural and museum center, many artists and artists live permanently on the islands, there is a summer theater, the Northern Institute of Contemporary Art, many museums, and very interesting ones.

The fortress houses the oldest dry dock in Europe - ships at this shipyard have been built since the middle of the 17th century (up to 24 ships at a time). The uniqueness of Sveaborg is that the gigantic fort was intended for both the fleet and the infantry. The bastions and fortifications could accommodate 1,300 cannons, and the harbor was able to receive large ships.

Vissarion Belinsky was born in Sveaborg, in the family of a marine doctor in 1811.

In the south, Susisaari flows smoothly into the island of Kustaanmiekka, that is, the Royal Sword. An exposition of coastal artillery is located at the junction of the two islands in a former powder warehouse. It is accompanied by an interesting exhibit - the only Finnish submarine Vesikko. The Finnish government bought it in Germany in the late 1930s. During World War II Vesikko torpedoed a Soviet merchant ship for a start, but then there was a blockade of Leningrad, the Soviet fleet was cut off from the sea and the submarine was left without work. After the end of the war, the Allies forbade Finland to have submarines, and all the submarines of the flotilla were sold out, except for Vesikko, which was transferred to the military museum and transported in parts to Sveaborg.

During perestroika, a lonely submarine had a girlfriend - the former son-in-law of the president, Mauno Koivisto, bought a decommissioned K-77 submarine without a nuclear reactor in Liepaja, installed it in the Hietalahti harbor and opened a restaurant on board. Four years later, the lease expired, and the guest performer went to Florida, where they tried unsuccessfully to auction her on eBay, until K-77 was spotted by the film company, which was launching the K-19 blockbuster with Harrison Ford. The girlfriend became a movie star, and Vesikko remained bored on Sveaborg ... (c)