Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Luther at Wittenberg, Agricola brought the Reformation to Finland. He also
translated the Bible into Finnish and is considered the father of the modern
Finnish language. Agricola's Bible is to Finland what the Luther Bible is to
Germany and the King James Bible is to the English-speaking world.
▲Senate Square
—Once a town square with a church and City Hall, this
square's original buildings were burned in 1808. Later, after Finland became
a grand duchy of the Russian Empire, the czar sent in architect Carl Ludvig
Engel (a German who had lived and worked in St. Petersburg) to give the
place some Neo-class. The result: the finest Neoclassical square in Europe.
Survey Senate Square from the top of the Lutheran Cathedral steps. The
Senate building (now the prime minister's office) is on your left. The small,
blue, stone building with the slanted mansard roof in the far-left corner, from
1757, is one of just two pre-Russian-conquest buildings remaining in Hel-
