Suomenlinna Sea Fortress
UNESCO-listed eighteenth-century sea fortress on islands off Helsinki, reached by public ferry.
Suomenlinna, known in Swedish as Sveaborg, was begun in 1748 on a cluster of islands at the entrance to Helsinki harbour, when Finland was part of the Swedish realm and the fortress was intended to check Russian expansion. Augustin Ehrensvärd directed the work, adapting bastion fortification to the irregular granite islands. The fortress surrendered to Russia in 1808 and served as a Russian garrison until 1917, after which it passed to newly independent Finland; its Finnish name dates from 1918.
The islands were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1991 as an example of European military architecture of its period. Around 800 people live there, and the site is reached by year-round HSL ferry from Market Square, making it part of Helsinki's public transport network. Visitors can walk the bastions and the dry dock, pass through the ornate King's Gate, and visit the Suomenlinna Museum, the Ehrensvärd Museum, the Military Museum's Manege and the submarine Vesikko.
Highlights
- UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1991
- Bastion walls and gun emplacements along Kustaanmiekka
- The King's Gate, the fortress's ceremonial entrance
- Several museums plus the preserved submarine Vesikko
![Afrique occidentale française : Cathédrale à St Louis / [photogr. Eugène] Gallois ; [photogr. reprod. par Radiguet et Massiot pour la conférence donnée par] Gallois](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Afrique_occidentale_fran%C3%A7aise_-_Cath%C3%A9drale_%C3%A0_St_Louis_-_%28photogr._Eug%C3%A8ne%29_Gallois_%3B_%28photogr._reprod._par_Radiguet_et_Massiot_pour_la_conf%C3%A9rence_donn%C3%A9e_par%29_Gallois_-_btv1b532798828.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
![[Golestan, Le Salon et Fete de l'equinode, Teheran, Iran (le Pavillion du Trone)]](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/-Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg/500px--Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg)
![Théâtre de la guerre dans l'Inde sur la coste de Coromandel / par M.B.C.T. [Monsieur Bourcet Capitaine ?] ; gravé par Croisey](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg/500px-Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg)
