Photos

THE PIGEON AND THE THREE BLACKSMITHS

Three Blacksmiths Square is located at the corner of Mannerheimintie and Aleksanterinkatu in Helsinki, and takes its name from the statue donated to the city by the Pro Helsingfors Foundation in 1932. On the northern side of the square is the Old Students' House (1870), the Student Union building of the University of Helsinki. On the southern side is Stockmann's department store, a 1930s emporium in German style that is almost as large as the Parliament Building. "Under the Stocka Clock" is a favorite salutation for locals to rendezvous. The city's main thoroughfare, Mannerheimintie, has separate lanes for pedestrians, cyclists, linden trees, cars and trams. Just to the right of the statue in this photo is, I believe, a bank. [Perhaps someone who speaks Finnish or knows the site could fill in this information.] In any event, the pigeon perched on the head of one of the blacksmiths appears to be ready to make a deposit of its own.

I have been in Helsinki twice, on very short visits of 1-2 days each, and both times while lecturing on cruises — the Royal Viking Sun (1990) and the Crystal Symphony (2001) — and it was on the latter cruise that I shot this picture. Unhappily both visits corresponded to weekends, and the opportunities for exploration were somewhat limited. I did, however, take an excursion to Aionola, the home of Finland’s greatest composer, Jean Sibelius, lived, and where he composed ‘Finlandia.’ Perhaps in the future I will post a picture of Aionola.

The picture was shot with a Nikon N90 on Kodachrome-64, and just recently scanned.