Finnish “Jugendstil”, Art Nouveau,  lasted only 25 years (1895-1920). In those years, over 600 multistory apartment buildings were built in Helsinki, which changed the face of large parts of the city in a blink, from a sleepy wooden town with patches of bare rock,  to an urban environment. In a dramatic pace, these buildings were mainly stonewalled by hand, as was the rest of the features. The need for new housing basically chasing it’s tail, as the houses were needed for the workers who built the houses (at least partly 🙂 ). Anyway. I wonder how they had time for all the nice ornaments, when, today, with all the machines, they can hardly produce something undeserving of the title “eyesore”. Or, may be, it is because of the machines. They were never known to have a lot of inspiration.

Anyway, here is to one more reason why you should crane your neck when walking through Helsinki. I am not even sure anymore right now where I took this picture 😉