We'll start today with just the one shot. It is of Sveaborg. The island were the Helsinki story started. It was originally a medieval fortress built for protection against the russians. The original stone walls and many cannons are still there on the island.
Slowly the small village of Helsinki started to grow on the mainland as the soldiers of the fortress and their families and servants were in need of all sorts of services for their maintenance.
The reason Helsinki became eventually the capital is another story. The original capital was Turku but it practically burned down once in the great fire and rebilding it took so long that a new capital had to be established. At this time Helsinki had already grown to a proper town and so it was decided that it would be the new capital.
Many of Helsinki's buildings show russian influence due to Finland having belonged to Russia before independence was granted in 1917.
