Kansanpuistot Korkeasaari ja Seurasaari (Folkparkerna Högholmen och Fölisön)

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

Korkeasaari and Seurasaari preserve the cultural environment of the first people's parks in Finland, dating from the late 19th century, together with the national attractions founded in connection with the people's parks: the zoo and the open-air museum.

The principles of “educational and wholesome” leisure that have survived at Korkeasaari and Seurasaari to the present day originate from the Helsingin anniskeluyhtiö, founded in 1871. The legacy of this company also includes the high-quality outdoor settings built to serve the people's parks, from parks and paths to buildings.

The villa-like park restaurant at Korkeasaari, the earliest people's park, dating from 1884, is still in use. The bronze goat sculpture next to the restaurant dates from 1892. Other buildings from the early days of the people's park that have survived are the waiting room (1887) and the island warden's building (1890). Stone structures recalling the history of keeping animals are the Karhulinnat (1903 and 1905) and the Jääkarhulinna (1914). The residence of the zoo's intendant (1902) also dates from this period.

Seurasaari is Helsinki's second people's park. From its early phase, there have survived not only the road network with its viewpoints, staircases and benches, but also buildings that contemporaries described as Norwegian-style, such as the forester's house in the northern part of the island, the restaurant with its park in the central part of the island, and the master's house at the southern tip of the island, all dating from 1890. The festival ground is north of the forest and park pond area at the southern tip. There is a sea bathing place on the western shore of the island. The wooden bridge leading to the island, with its rest pavilions, follows the shape of the first bridge, designed by architect Mieritz in 1891.

The Seurasaari Open-Air Museum, which focuses on the eastern part of the island, presents several dozen wooden buildings and building groups typical of the provinces of Finland, with their interiors, from the end of the 17th century to the 20th century. The Niemelä croft from Konginkangas and the Antti closed-courtyard farmhouse from Säkylä form complete farmyards with all their buildings. The Kahiluoto manor from Taivassalo and the Iisalmi parsonage shed light on the life of the landed gentry, dating from the 18th century. The oldest building is the Karuna wooden church, completed in 1686. In addition, buildings such as the Kurssi house from Kuortane, Ivars from Närpiö, Selkämä from Pieksämäki, Halla from Hyrynsalmi and Pertinotsa from Border Karelia have been moved to Seurasaari. The Savitaipale granary storehouses were moved to the museum in 2002.

History

Leisure pursuits, outdoor recreation and villa life were part of the leisure culture of townspeople at the end of the 19th century. Associations organised wholesome leisure activities, and active participation in charitable organisations was a pastime of the upper social classes in the 1880s and 1890s. Among the companies engaged in charitable activity, a special position was held by the Helsingin anniskeluyhtiö, which operated in cooperation with the city authorities. Founded in 1871, the company received from the city the right to serve and retail alcoholic beverages after the reform of the 1873 Spirits Act. The company's purpose was also to “establish restaurants intended for the needs of the working class”.

The company's profits were used for public-benefit purposes, such as people's parks. The parks were associated with educational goals emphasising health and temperance, and with an organised programme. The first people's parks were established at the end of the 19th century on Korkeasaari and Seurasaari. The architects were Theodor Höijer, Theodor Decker and Frithiof Mieritz. The Anniskeluyhtiö gave up its people's parks in 1919, after the Prohibition Act came into force.

KORKEASAARI was already a destination for townspeople's excursions in the first half of the 19th century, and steamboat traffic in the archipelago ran there from the 1860s. There was a restaurant on the island, but because of alcohol abuse the city leased the island it owned to the Helsingin anniskeluyhtiö as a people's park. The company's first people's park was established in 1883, and architect Höijer and city gardener Jernström drew up the general plan for the use of the people's park. The first buildings completed included Höijer's restaurant in 1884, a quay, a lavatory, a viewing pavilion and a bathhouse. In 1887-88 the following were built, among others: a waiting room (Decker 1887), a bowling alley (Mieritz 1888) and a laundry house (Decker). The island was planted, and roads and paths were built.

Soon the idea arose of placing a small animal collection on Korkeasaari. Fabritius, a representative of the Anniskeluyhtiö, proposed establishing a zoo after becoming acquainted with the zoos of Tukholma and Kööpenhamina, and in 1888 the first animal cages were built on the island. The Anniskeluyhtiö founded the actual zoo in 1889.

After the animal enclosures were built, Korkeasaari received its first bear in 1888 and a polar bear in 1890. The Anniskeluyhtiö also established a stone exhibition in 1905 and a teaching botanical garden in the 1910s. After the Anniskeluyhtiö gave up the people's parks, the city of Helsinki took over the zoo. In the 1930s new large animal enclosures were built. Leijonalinna, later Paviaanilinna (Apinalinna), was completed in 1935. The new Karhulinna was completed for the Olympic year 1952, and the ape house in 1956. The first Kissalaakso was completed in 1962. The zoo was continuously extended with new buildings.

In summer the zoo was reached by water, and in winter by an ice road. Regular ferry traffic began in 1949. The zoo has been open year-round since 1974, when the first bridge from Mustikkamaa was completed.

SEURASAARI was the old pasture island of the Meilahti estate, which passed into the ownership of the city of Helsinki in 1871. In 1889 the city of Helsinki leased the island to the Helsingin anniskeluosakeyhtiö as a people's park. The new name Seurasaari derived from the island's use as an excursion destination for groups (seurue).

The Anniskeluyhtiö developed the island for recreational use and had almost 30 buildings constructed on it. Architect Frithiof Mieritz and engineer Oskar Sundberg won the competition held in 1889 for the island's use plan, and the environmental plan was drawn up by Erik Zetterlöf, gardener of the Suomen puutarhayhdistys. The people's park was first equipped with, among others, a steamboat quay, a dance floor and wells. The natural environment was reshaped, and park-like areas were also created on the island. The pits created by earlier clay extraction were dammed into ponds, and the Isännän talo with its yards was built near them. The log restaurant designed by Mieritz was completed in 1890, as was the forester's house next to the bridge. From the same period is the circulating road network, which included lookout points, stairs and benches. The bridge was completed in 1892. The festival ground was built at the end of the 1890s. A new dance pavilion and buffet were built around 1900, but they have not survived. The Anniskeluyhtiö built a sea bathhouse, separate for men and women, in 1906. The bathing facility was renovated in 1926-1927 and, to designs by Gunnar Taucher, at the end of the 1930s. The present bathhouse is in its main features from 1955.

The idea of moving entire buildings to a museum arose in the Nordic countries, made possible by timber-building techniques. Skansen in Tukholma was founded in 1891. In Finland, the ethnographer A.O. Heikel, future intendent of the Seurasaari open-air museum, proposed the idea of an ethnographic open-air museum in 1902. Interest focused on Seurasaari, where the open-air museum was established in 1909. The area to be reserved for the open-air museum was agreed with the Anniskeluyhtiö. The first buildings moved to the island were the buildings of the Niemelä croft, which had been discovered at Konginkangas by the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela and the architect Yrjö Blomstedt.