My photo blog is at an arctic life. I write & photograph everyday life in the Canadian arctic. Simple things, nothing grand.

If you walk around in Helsinki, you may realize that Art Nouveau has a great influence on the architecture.

My favourite building in Helsinki is the Pohjola Insurance Building designed by Eliel Saarinen and built in 1901.



But what is Art Nouveau?
Art Nouveau, also known as Jugendstil (German for 'youth style'), is an international movement and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that peaked in popularity at the turn of the 20th century (1890–1905).



A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it is characterized by organic, especially floral and other plant-inspired motifs, as well as highly-stylized, flowing curvilinear forms.

Art Nouveau is an approach to design according to which artists should work on everything from architecture to furniture, making art part of everyday life.



Click here to read more about Art Nouveau

Uspenski Cathedral (Finnish: Uspenskin katedraali, Swedish: Uspenskij-katedralen, Russian: Успенский собор) is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary). Its name comes from the Russian word uspenie, which denotes the Dormition. Designed by the Russian architect Alexey Gornostaev (1808-1862), the cathedral was built after his death in 1862-1868.



The Cathedral is set upon a hillside on the Katajanokka peninsula overlooking the city. On the back of the cathedral, there is a plaque commemorating Russian Emperor Alexander II, who was the sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Finland during the cathedral's construction. Main cathedral of the Finnish Orthodox Church in the diocese of Helsinki, Uspenski Cathedral is claimed to be the largest orthodox church in Western Europe, although Finland is normally included into Northern Europe.



In 2006, about 516 500 tourists visited the church. Admission to the Cathedral is free of charge. In winter, the Cathedral is closed on Mondays.

(Source Wikipedia)

A statue of Emperor Alexander II is located in the center of the square. The statue, erected in 1894, has built to commemorate his re-establishing the Diet of Finland in 1863, and initiating several reforms increasing Finland's autonomy from Russia. The statue comprises Alexander on a pedestal surrounded by figures representing the law (Lex), Light (Lux), Work (Labour), Peace (Pax)



During the Russification of Finland from 1899 onwards, the statue became a symbol of quiet resistance, with people of Helsinki protesting to the decrees of Nicholas II leaving flowers to at the foot of the statue of his grandfather, then know in Finland as "the good czar".



After Finland's independence in 1917, demands were made regarding the removal of the statue, and later, a suggestion was made that it should be replaced with the equestrian statue of Mannerheim (currently located along Mannerheimintie, near Eduskuntatalo).



Nothing came of either of these suggestions, and today the statue is one of the major tourist landmarks on the city, standing as a monument to Finland's relationship with Imperial Russia.

...

Written on september 11 of 2008. Enjoy.

-Yes, another eleven is coming to town. Tonight is the 35th “anniversary” of the military movement to break into the Salvador Allende’s government. Riots all everywhere now. People usually do this on this day. They burn tyres, they face the police… lots of injured arrive to the hospitals… it’s a quite common situation.

-But let me tell you why this happens.

-It all started back in 1973. Allende was a left-wing politician, and he was the first communist to be elected in a democratic way, back in 1970. He had already lost two times in the elections, but his third attempt was the lucky one. As every left-wing politician, he gave everything to the people. And when I say everything, it’s EVERYTHING. Before him, we had a very good president –Frey Montalva-, but with him as “headmaster” things changed.

-The certainly thing was that we were in a deep crisis. An economical crisis. People were starving, BUT they had a lot of money. What’s wrong with that? There was nothing to spend the money in. To buy a kilo of bread, you had to pay like 150.000 pesos (about 250 current EUROS). Ridiculous, isn’t it? Well, the right-wing economical leaders were against his government, so they started to hide all their production, they wanted him out of the country. We were millionaires, but we could not buy anything. Until September 11 of 1973.

-Augusto Pinochet was the chief commander of...