Vinayak Hegde

Soumenlinna (literally Finland’s Castle in Finnish) or Sveborg (Fortress of Svea in Sweden) is a UNESCO World Heritage site built on an a group of islands south-east of Helsinki in the Baltic sea. It is accessible by the water ferries that ply across the sea from Helsinki. The ramparts of the forts are star-shaped and consists of many fortifications made of large mounds of sand. (called Skansen in Swedish – literally meanings fortifications or fort walls).

The fortress itself is inhabited and there are a number of cafes and restaurants to cater to the gaggle of picnicking Helsinkians (Not Helsinkers !! however tempted you are to use that word !!). The fortress also has Finland’s smallest official beach just a few metres across (see below). Suomenlinna was used during the Second World War as one of Helsinki’s air surveillance centres and served as a garrison until 1972. Today it houses the Finnish Naval War Academy. It also houses the Helsinki open prison. A substantial part of the repairs to the walls, ramparts and buildings are carried out by convicts.

Interestingly, Soumenlinna was built by a Swedish King (when Finland was still a part of Sweden 250 years ago) to guard against Russia whose increasing maritime power in the Gulf of Finland made the Swedes uneasy. Soumenlinna contains a shipbuilding yard that is now defunct. The Soumenlinna Church was built originally in Greek Orthodox Style with five onion domes. Later it was converted into Lutheran Church (Most Finnish are Lutheran Christians). Today, the main dome of the church doubles up as a lighthouse. The light in the Lighthouse signals the morse code for the letter ‘H’ (for Helsinki) and is one of the first landmark for vessels approaching Helsinki.

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