Blue main route

The main route runs across Suomenlinna from north to south. All main sights are along this route, which starts at the main pier in front of the Jetty Barracks and terminates at the King’s Gate.

The route is about 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) long. It is indicated by the blue signs on the signposts and marked on the maps with a blue line. The information boards along the route contain interesting information on the sights.

The lit information boards provide information at all times, even when no guided tours are available or when the Visitor Centre is closed.

The five information boards along the main route provide information on the Russian Merchants’ Quarter, Church Park, Great Courtyard, Piper’s Park and the Kustaanmiekka fortresses.

Signs placed near the Jetty Barracks and Visitor Centre piers guide you to the route. They also contain information on the history of the fortress. The information boards provide information in Finnish, Swedish and English.

Sights

1. The pink Jetty Barracks is the most prominent building from the Russian era. It was built between 1868 and 1870 as the main gateway to the fortress. The eastern wing of the building houses a recording studio, musicians’ offices and a kiosk which doubles as a post office. The western wing houses a restaurant which is also a fully operational brewery. The Helsinki Artists’ Association operates an art gallery in the building. They stage various exhibitions throughout the year.

2. Russian merchants built the wooden houses along the current main route in the 19th century. The area is called the Russian Merchants’ Quarter. The buildings served as shops and merchants also lived in them with their families. Today, one of the buildings houses a café while some are private residential homes, a rarity in Suomenlinna.

3. The Suomenlinna Church was built as a Russian Orthodox garrison church in 1854 and dedicated to Aleksander Nevski. The original building had five steeples with onion domes. The appearance of the church – which dominates the southern horizon from Helsinki – was changed at the beginning of the Finnish era when it was converted into a Lutheran church. The current appearance dates from the 1920s. The church steeple doubles as a lighthouse. Only three churches in the world have steeples which act as lighthouses. The church is a popular venue for weddings. The fence surrounding the church is made of Swedish and Russian cannon barrels and chains which were used to close the straits between the islands.

4. The Crownwork Ehrensvärd, on the right side of the main route, is the largest single group of buildings in Suomenlinna.

The buildings form a crown-shaped fortress with redbrick wings at both ends. King Gustav III of Sweden laid the foundation stone in 1775. The Crownwork was built as a massive greystone defensive wall. Its casemates and wings housed navy workshops, a sailmaking shop, warehouses and navy headquarter offices. The gates of the low walls between the bastions still bear the Swedish Coat of Arms, made from sandstone. During the Russian era, attempts were made to remove some of the crowns on the coats of arms. The building was badly damaged in bombardments during the Crimean War in 1855. The Crownwork was restored in the 1980s and now contains apartments and a City of Helsinki daycare centre and library. The wings house conference and function facilities and the offices of the Governing Body of Suomenlinna.

5. The inventory chamber and its mast shed were built on Tykistönlahti Bay, along the channel leading to the dock, between 1778 and 1783 as storage facilities for navy vessels. The inventory chamber was badly damaged during the Crimean War in 1855 and the mast shed completely destroyed in air bombings during the Second World War. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the fortress in 1998, a new building was constructed on the site of the destroyed mast shed. This new extension of the Visitor Centre houses tourist information services, while the Suomenlinna Museum is located in the old part. The widescreen show on the history of the fortress is available in seven languages at the museum.

On the opposite shore to the Visitor Centre is the original entrance to the Suomenlinna docks and a large redbrick building, the Old Sheetmetal Works. It was built at the end of the Russian era in 1917 on the site which had been used as a repair basin during the Swedish era. The building was used for shipbuilding and repairs and also accommodated the pumping station of the dock’s inner basin. In the 1920s aeroplanes were assembled in the building. Today, the Old Sheetmetal Works is used to repair ships.

6. The Great Courtyard was designed by Ehrensvärd and built in the 1750s in late Baroque style. It was the first ever monumental square in Finland. The architecture of the building was based on symmetry and false perspective. The square was enclosed by two greystone bastions, the Commandant’s House and two concave guardhouses. Upon completion, the courtyard served as the main square of the fortress. The Commandant’s House has been home to the Ehrensvärd Museum since the beginning of 1930s. The museum is dedicated to the Swedish era of the fortress and exhibits miniature models, paintings and weapons.

Augustin Ehrensvärd, the designer of the fortress, was laid to rest in the centre of the courtyard in 1783. King Gustav III of Sweden helped to design the tomb, which was not completed until 1807, six months before the fortress was surrendered to the Russians.

The bombardment of the fortress during the Crimean War in 1855 destroyed several buildings and damaged the consistent look of the courtyard. After the war, half of the damaged Commandant’s House and one of the rounded guardhouses were torn down. Bastion Ekeblad was demolished in the 1880s. It was located opposite bastion Höpken, which is still intact today, located on the right side of the courtyard. A residential building for officers was built on the site of bastion Ekeblad. The new building is still used as a residence. Vegetation was also planted around Ehrensvärd’s tomb.

7. Construction of the Suomenlinna naval dock, the biggest of its kind at the time, began in 1750. The famous Swedish Coastal Fleet was built there in the 1760s under the supervision of Fredrik Henrik af Chapman. After Finland became independent, the dock was used to build aeroplanes. During the Second World War it served as the base for the Finnish submarine fleet. After the war the dock was used for shipbuilding, a part of Finland’s war indemnity to the Soviet Union. Nowadays the dry dock is used for repairing wooden sailing ships. The area also houses a boatyard, sailmaking shop and guest harbour with a café.

The greystone building on the edge of the basin to the left of the vantage point is the Tenaille von Fersen, which originally housed the pumping station for the basin, the garrison’s bakery and a flourmill. The granary of the Tenaille von Fersen has been restored as a conference and function facility for meetings, concerts and weddings.

8. Piper’s Park is the oldest and most notable structured park in Suomenlinna. It is located in the corner of the Honour and Hårleman bastions. The author of an 18th century travel journal describes Piper’s Park as a small, lovely garden with trimmed hedges, fruit trees and flower beds. The pond, fortifications surrounding the pond and the gazebo site on the rock date back to the Swedish era. The pond served as a freshwater pool and it used to have a well. The park was converted into an English garden in 1873. Particular attention was paid to the view from the curved paths. Fences and tree rows helped to separate the garden from its surroundings.

Café Piper, run by the Ehrensvärd Society, was built on the foundation of the demolished gazebo in 1928. Piper’s Park in the summer is an oasis of blooming lilacs, roses, irises and rare plants.

9. The turf-covered sandbanks on the right side of the main route were built at the end of the 19th century as a new line of defence along the shoreline of Suomenlinna and the neighbouring islands. The power of cannon fire had increased over the years, and defensive stone walls were no longer as important as before. During the sandbank construction the strait between the Susisaari and Kustaanmiekka islands was also filled. The former strait is now a large lawn in the summer. Heavy cannons from the Russian era stand on the Kustaanmiekka sandbanks. The firing range of the cannons was between five and eight kilometres (3.1 to 4.97 miles). The cannonballs used in the rear-loaded cannons weighed from 120 to 250 kilos (257 to 551 pounds). Yellow hill mustard blooms on the sandbanks in the summer. The plant was transported to Suomenlinna during the Russian era in earth used for construction.

10. The fortification on the southern tip of Kustaanmiekka is the most well-preserved part of the 18th century fortress. The Kustaanmiekka fortification – named after the Swedish Crown Prince Gustav who later became King Gustav III – is on the left side of the main route. It was built on the highest point of the island and consists of a closed fortress formed by four bastions with defensive fortifications at the front. The fortifications have four back-to-back defensive lines. This made it possible for soldiers on the upper lines to fire over the fortifications at the front and protect the strait of Kustaanmiekka, the shipping channel leading to the fortification. The flag of the ruler of Suomenlinna has been flying over bastion Zander since its completion. This tradition is still alive – the Finnish Naval Academy hoists the Finnish state flag every summer morning.

11. The monumental King’s Gate is the symbol of Suomenlinna. It is located along the sea passage to Helsinki used by huge ferries travelling to and from Sweden. The gate was built in the 1750s. It was designed by Superintendent Carl Hårleman, who was inspired by Rococo and Italy. The gate was built on the place where the ship carrying King Adolf Frederick of Sweden anchored when he came to see how work was progressing in 1752. The gate was converted into a ceremonial gate in the 1770s when a rounded pier, step and ramp were added.

The inscriptions on the gate are by Ehrensvärd, the founder of the fortress. The most famous one reads: “Posterity, stand here upon your ground and never rely on outside help.” Bombardments during the Crimean War sank the pier, steps and most of the ramp in 1855. The destroyed parts were rebuilt for Suomenlinna’s 250th anniversary in 1998. The King’s Gate was immortalised on the 1,000 mark banknote, which was the largest banknote in Finland before the country adopted the Euro.

12. Across the lawn on the other side of Kustaanmiekka is a gunpowder magazine covered with earth. It is a barrel-arched room surrounded by an arched ventilation corridor. The gunpowder magazine was built between 1776 and 1778 as a gunpowder storage room. It was covered on three sides with earth a hundred years later. It was used as a warehouse at the beginning of the Finnish era. It was renovated in 1948 and housed the Military Museum’s Coastal Artillery Museum until 2006. A similar gunpowder magazine from the same era is located on the western coast of Susisaari. It has been converted into a conference and function room.

The memorial was erected in 1952 in honour of those who fell in the Suomenlinna battles (in 1808 and 1855) and during the Viapori Rebellion in 1906. It also honours the more than one thousand Red prisoners who lost their lives in the prison camp in 1918. Victims of an explosion in 1937 on Vallisaari, on the opposite side of the strait of Kustaanmiekka, are buried beside the memorial.

13. To the left of the main route are the bastions Virtue and Honour, to the right the ravelin Good Conscience. Together they form a line of bastions. A straight, low wall connects the sharp-cornered greystone bastions. The gate in the middle was widened after completion. According to legend, the unusual names – Virtue, Houour and Good Conscience – were Augustin Ehrensvärd’s answer to those who criticized him in the 1750s.

The ravelin Clear Conscience now houses a popular open-air theatre while the bastion Virtue houses a glass studio and a Japanese tea room.

14. The submarine Vesikko, commissioned by the Germans, was built in Turku in 1933.  Finland purchased Vesikko in 1936 along with the other four submarines built at the same time. The submarines saw action in the Winter and Continuation wars (1939–1944). All Finnish submarines, with the exception of Vesikko, were scrapped in accordance with the terms of the 1947 Treaty of Paris. Following extensive restoration work, Vesikko was opened to the public in 1973. Visitors can explore the submarine and see the conditions the crew lived in when the vessel was deep below the sea surface.

Route map

Print the map of the blue main route and bring it with you! To print the map, click the image below. The map opens in a new browser window for printing (size: 586 kb, 1240 x 1454).