Bastion Zander

Bastion Zander has been the flag bastion of the fortress throughout its history. The bastion was built between 1748 and 1750, and it has three wings and two sides.

The defensive walls of the bastion are mainly made of rock. There is only one casemate equipped with embrasures in the bastion, built to protect the adjacent vaulted gate, which is built into the rock. The bastion battlements had 14 cannon embrasures in total. A Swedish six-pounder cannon from the 1700s is still on display today.

Bastion Zander offers a good general picture of the shape of the fortress and provides a good view of the Kustaanmiekka sandbanks. This is also the place where the Swedish ferries pass the fortress.

Honouring traditions

The first flag was hoisted by Captain Tersmeden on 27 June 1750. The occasion was marked with a gun salute.

Today, the flag flies high over bastion Zander from 12 May to 29 September. The flag hoisting date is significant because the flag of independent Finland was hoisted over Suomenlinna for the first time on 12 May 1918.

Senator Svinhufvud said in his speech: “Now, Finland is a free country. Now the flag of Finland is flying on the ridge of this old fortress. To commemorate this, the senate has decided that name of the Viapori fortress shall henceforth be Suomenlinna. Let no enemy ever pull down this flag, but let it always fly at this very place.”

To this day, the first hoisting of the flag is performed on 12 May every year by the Suomenlinna Coastal Regiment, which celebrates its anniversary on the same day. From then on, the conscripts of the Finnish Naval Academy hoist the flag every morning during the flagging season. Two conscripts at a time are responsible for the flag, and they cycle to Kustaanmiekka from the Naval Academy. Before leaving for Kustaanmiekka, the conscripts check the correct time of sunset from the duty officer in the academy lobby and compare their watches with that of the person on duty. The flag is hoisted and lowered at the same time in Kustaanmiekka and the Naval Academy.

The Kustaanmiekka flagging ends on 29 September. On the same date in 1972, the predecessor of the Suomenlinna Coastal Regiment, the Suomenlinna Coastal Artillery Regiment, assigned responsibility for the flag to the Naval Academy at a ceremonial parade.

How to get there

The waterbus stops at the King’s Gate during summer. The bastion is about 100 metres from the gate. The Helsinki City Transport ferry operates to the main pier throughout the year, and from there the bastion is about 1.5 kilometres away.