3462 FINLAND (North Karelia) - Bomban Orthodox prayer chapel in Nurmes

3462 Bomban Orthodox prayer chapel in Nurmes

Between 1977 and 1978, on the shore of lake Pielinen, about three kilometers from the center of the town of Nurmes, was erected the Bomba house, a copy (a little bigger) of a house build by Jegor Bombin in 1855 in Suojärvi. Suojärvi was part of the Karelian areas that Finland lost to Soviet Union in 1944 as a result of continuation war between the two countries, and Karelians were evacuated from the areas. A full Karelian village was built around the replica to supplement the atmosphere and the experience of the area.

2026, 3297 FINLAND - The land of the thousand lakes

3297

Posted on 11.11.2015, 22.12.2019
Much of the geography of Finland is explained by the Ice Age. The glaciers were thicker and lasted longer in Fennoscandia compared with the rest of Europe. Their eroding effects have left the Finnish landscape mostly flat, covered largely (86% of land area) by coniferous taiga forests and fens, with little cultivated land. Finland is known also as "the land of the thousand lakes", because it has about 188,000 lakes, among which the largest is Saimaa, the fourth largest in Europe. The area with the most lakes is called Finnish Lakeland.

2026

Nothing is more Finnish than spending summer holidays at a lakeside or island cottage, known in Finnish as a mökki. Most mökki are constructed from wooden logs on lakesides or beaches and usually contain a sauna, boat dock, and a outdoor cooker. Around a fifth of Finns own their own cottages, with many more renting one during the summer season. Many people also visit cottages owned by their friends and relatives, particularly just in time for the Midsummer holiday.

3141 FINLAND (Uusimaa) - Kiasma

Kiasma is a contemporary art museum located on Mannerheimintie in Helsinki and opened to the public in 1998. The museum exhibits the contemporary art collection of the Finnish National Gallery founded in 1990, its central goal being to make contemporary art better known and strengthen its status. The building itself, a major architectural landmark of Helsinki, was designed by American architect Steven Holl. Kiasma is Finnish for chiasma, a term that describes the crossing of nerves or tendons or the intertwining of two chromatids, the thread-like strands of a chromosome.

3028 FINLAND - The gates of a barn

Obviously this is the front of a barn. What else would be to said? I searched for information about Finnish barns, based on the idea that they may have something specific, and I discovered that indeed they follow a pattern in the layout of the planks, both those that form the walls, and those that make up the gates. Moreover, the red for large surfaces and the white for gates and windows frames are also traditional colors, often found to the  Finnish barns.

1014, 1117, 2976 FINLAND / NORWAY - Sami people

1014 Finland - A young Sami man

Posted on 25.02.2014, 26.06.2014, 09.03.2017
The Sami people are the indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting the Sápmi, the cultural region which today encompasses parts of far northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. Known also as Lapps, an exonym considered by them as pejorative, the Sami have pursued a variety of livelihoods (including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding), but the most representative is the semi-nomadic reindeer herding. Their traditional languages are the Sami languages (Sàmigiella) and are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family.

1117 Finland - Sami people

Although they lived in Arctic Europe for at least 5,000 years, they have been for centuries the subject of discrimination and abuse by the dominant cultures, being recognized as an indigenous people only in the last part of the 20th century in Norway, Sweden and Finland, and in Russia not even today. In the late 20th century there were from 30,000 to 40,000 Sami in Norway and about 20,000 in Sweden, 6,000 in Finland, and 2,000 in Russia, but the sources are highly conflicting, indicating a total population from 80,000 to 160,000.

2976 Norway - Sami children and a baby in komse (cradleboard)

 

Called gákti or kolt, their traditional costume is worn both in ceremonial contexts and while working. Traditionally, it was made from reindeer leather and sinews, but nowadays it is more common to use wool, cotton, or silk. It differ from community to community, and the colours, patterns and the jewellery have deeper meaning. There are also different gákti for women and men (for men a shorter jacket-skirt, for women a long dress). Traditional gákti are most commonly in variations of red, blue, green, white, medium-brown tanned leather, or reindeer fur.

2876 FINLAND (Pirkanmaa) - Santa Claus over the Vapriikki Museum Centre

As it is well known, the home of Santa Claus is in Finland, in Korvatunturi, as also Santa Claus Village and  Santa Park, located about 10 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, near Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland. No wonder therefore that Santa has passed over the Vapriikki in Tampere, where on November 12, 2016 was held the Christmas Party Meetup, organised by the Finnish postcrossers. In that day took place the Day of Christmas Postcard (which gathered together artists, associations and postcard sellers), and then a meetup and a Christmas Party for postcrossers.

2854 FINLAND (Pirkanmaa) - Tampere Cathedral

Designed in the National Romantic style by Lars Sonck, Tampere Cathedral was built between 1902 and 1907. In the beginning of the 20th century Russification was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at limiting the special status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and possibly the termination of its autonomy. This caused the rise of the national romanticism in Finland and Tampere Cathedral was one of the most remarkable examples of the new national spirit.

2631 FINLAND (Uusimaa) - Motorcyclists on the Linvävaregatan in Tammisaari

Tammisaari (Ekenäs in Swedish) is a coastal town and former municipality in Southern Finland, that included the former municipalities Snappertuna and Tenala together with the town of Ekenäs. It was merged with Pohja and Karis to form the new municipality of Raseborg on January 1, 2009. The town is bilingual, with the majority being Swedish speakers (81%), and the minority Finnish speakers (17%).

2296 FINLAND (Uusimaa) - Bengtskär lighthouse

Located in the Archipelago Sea (a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland), on the Bengtskär skerry, at about 25 kilometers south west of Hanko, Bengtskär lighthouse is the highest one in the Nordic countries. Its 46m round granite tower, attached to one end of a 3-1/2 story granite keeper's house, is unpainted. Restored in the early 1990s, it now includes overnight accommodations, a lecture hall, conference rooms, a café, museum, and a post office.

0075, 0091, 2281 FINLAND (Uusimaa) - The trams of Helsinki

2281 Tram HKL 184 on line 9, in Helsinki Senate Square, on 20.04.1972

Posted on 16.12.2011, 04.01.2012, 10.02.2016
The Helsinki system is one of the oldest electrified tram networks in the world (1891), and the only one still in use in Finland. In 2013, 38km of double track was in operation with 13 regular lines. Helsinki City Transport (HKL) has up to 124 tram units that can be used in scheduled passenger service (2015). Traditional colors were and remained yellow and green. Several times were tried other combinations, which however have proved unpopular. In the postcard 2281 is the tram HKL 184, which was part of a lot of 6 (HKL 181-186), series A12, manufactured between 1939 and 1941 by ASEA, back then a Swedish company. It was delivered on December 11, 1941, and was in service until April 22, 1974.

0075 Tram HKL 150 on line 1A,
in Helsinki Senate Square, on 27.04.2005

 

From 1998 to 2003, HKL purchased a new fleet of low-floor Variotram, which proved to be unreliable, so the company was forced to buy 10 second-hand trams from Mannheim (Germany) to cover for the shortage. In the postcard 0075 can be seen even one of them, HKL 150, a 8-axle GT8, manufactured by DÜWAG in 1970, which came into use in Helsinki on May 30, 2004. In 2016 it is the only of this type which is part of the rolling stock of HKL, as a charter tram.

0091 Tram HKL 151 on line 6, on Hämeentie Street, on 20.09.2005

 

The tram from the postcard 0091, HKL 151, is also one of those buy from Mannheim, more precisely is one of the four 6-axle GT6 (HKL 151-154) manufactured also by DÜWAG in 1970. It was used for the first time in Helsinki on April 18, 2005, and was in service until June 29, 2012. To help pay for the second-hand trams, HKL was allowed to cover six of the extra trams completely in advertising, a sight rarely seen before on the streets of Helsinki.

2072, 2139 FINLAND (Åland) - The Maritime Quarter of Mariehamn Eastern Harbour

2072 The Maritime Quarter of Mariehamn Eastern Harbour (1)

Posted on 26.11.2015, 22.12.2015
Mariehamn, the capital of Åland, is located on a peninsula and has two important harbours, one located on the western shore and one on the eastern shore, which are ice-free for nearly the whole year, and have no tides. The Western Harbour is an important international harbour with daily traffic to Sweden, Estonia and mainland Finland.

2139 The Maritime Quarter of Mariehamn Eastern Harbour (2)

In the Eastern Harbour is the Maritime Quarter, where boat building traditions are kept alive. Among the red sheds there is a boatyard, a smithy, a boat and shipbuilding museum, and a newbuilt museum of historical marine engines. There is an exhibition of historical work boats in the Beacon, a copy of the former beacon at the Kobba Klintar pilot station. Furthest out on the breakwater is a Seafarers’ chapel.

2088 FINLAND (Lapland) - Map of Lapland

Sápmi (English: Lapland) is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sami people (English: Lapps), located in Northern Europe and stretching over four countries:  Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. On the north it is bounded by the Barents Sea, on the west by the Norwegian Sea and on the east by the White Sea. Its part from Finland is named also Lapland, and it is the largest and northernmost region of the country. In  continuation it will be just about this Finnish region.

1447 FINLAND (Åland) - The flag of the Åland Islands

The Åland Islands (Finnish: Ahvenanmaa) is an autonomous region of Finland that consists of an archipelago lying at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea, which comprises Fasta Åland (Main Island) and 6,500 skerries and islands. Fasta Åland is separated from the coast of Sweden by 38km of open water to the west, and in the east is contiguous with the Finnish Archipelago Sea. Åland's only land border is located on the uninhabited skerry of Märket, which it shares with Sweden.

1372 FINLAND (Åland) - Hammarudda, in Jomala

Located on  Fasta Åland, the main island of Åland, lying at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea, Jomala is a municipality which offers a variety of nature experiences. Apart from the sea coast, it contains also open fields, deciduous woodland meadows and Ice Age formations. It is not known from where the name Jomala originates but theories suggest that "jom" comes from the name of the Viking god Jom and that "ala" means "place". Therefore, Jomala would mean "the place where Jom is worshipped".

0010, 1190, 1260 FINLAND - The map and the flag of the country

Posted on 13.10.2011, 17.08.2014, and 01.10.2014

Bordered by Sweden, Norway, and Russia, Finland has a population of around 5.5 million, with the majority concentrated in its southern regions. Lying approximately between latitudes 60° and 70° N, Finland is one of the world's northernmost countries. Of world capitals, only Reykjavík lies more to the north than Helsinki, established as a trading town by King Gustav I of Sweden in 1550, become the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland (in the Russian Empire) in 1812, and the capital of independent Finland in 1917. Finland is a country of thousands of lakes and islands - about 188,000 lakes and 179,000 islands. Much of its geography is explained by the Ice Age. The glaciers were thicker and lasted longer in Fennoscandia compared with the rest of Europe. Their eroding effects have left the Finnish landscape mostly flat with few hills and fewer mountains (the highest peak in Finland is Ridnitsohkka - 1,316m).

 

Taiga covers most of Finland from northern regions of southern provinces to the north of Lapland. On the southwestern coast, forests are mixed, that are more typical in the Baltic region. In the extreme north of Finland, near the tree line and Arctic Ocean, Montane Birch forests are common. It contains many species of mammals, birds, and fish, but only a few reptiles and amphibians. The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is Finland's national animal. The endangered Saimaa Ringed Seal, one of only three lake seal species in the world, exists only in the Saimaa lake system. It has become the emblem of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.

Relatively late populated by Finno-Ugric people, which Christianized barely in 11th-12th centuries, the current territory of Finland (called in the Middle Ages Österland, which means Eastern Land) was ruled by the Swedes (since 12th century until 1809), then by the Russians (1809-1917), and become a state itself status only after the October Revolution. Tenacity, modern way of thinking, and the spirit of sacrifice made from Finland in just a few decades a nation that has a hard word to say in Europe. How they responded to Soviet aggression in 1939-1940, clear social and political line after WWII and prosperity in recent decades are strong evidence to that.

1083 FINLAND (Northern Ostrobothnia) - Wooden Church in Vihanti

Located in the centre of Finland, Vihanti is a little town, which has only 3000 inhabitants, even after the assimilation of the neighbor city of Raahe in 2013. The wooden church in the postcard was built during the reign of Gustav III of Sweden, and was named after the wife of the king, Sophia Magdalena. Its building was decided in 1871, after an inspection which found that the old church, built in 1691, couldn't be extended. The plans was made by Simon Silvén, and the church was completed in June 1784. The bell tower of the old church has been preserved and it is one built in 1752. The interior was decorated by Emanuel Granberg and Erik Westzynthius, and the altarpiece was painted directly to the log wall. 

1075 FINLAND (Uusimaa) - A Finnish folk dance group in Glims Farmstead Museum in Espoo

As in many of the european countries, the Finnish national costumes are based on the outfits of common people in the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. These outfits used to represent the estate of the wearer, so even there were dressing laws which forbade dressing too sophisticated for the ones who weren't in upper class. Common people therefore had to come up with ways to dress well without breaking the laws. These laws influenced a lot the dressing of common people and the way the Finnish national costumes look today. As the dialects of Finnish language, also the Finnish folk costumes are divided in two groups, namely western, and Karelian, or eastern.