A modern Finnish Gothic alphabet

Last week, I noticed this war monument* in the Kamppi cemetery, by the Old Church in Helsinki.  It is carved in a stark, forceful version of Gothic, without the square serifs but with the same heavy width of stroke and uniform letter bodies.  Letters have to be robust to survive being carved into granite, a process undertaken today almost invariably with a power chisel.  

The letters e and a break up the rows of vertical
strokes, with half- or whole-round shapes, 

The letter g shows the kind of calligraphic
ingenuity that brings a smile to a calligrapher's
face. And the thought: I've got to try that one!  

The same message appears in three languages: Finnish, Estonian, and Swedish.  

* "The...monument in the Old Church Park was erected in 1919 in memory of the Finnish volunteers who fell in the Estonian war of independence. The bodies of 25 Finns from Helsinki were carried back from Tallinn aboard the icebreaker Wäinämöinen, and a service was held on 16 February 1919." From Park Walks in Helsinki website. 

Numbers on the street, Helsinki

I continued to find new numerals on my rambles through Helsinki. 

Some more signs from Helsinki streets

Look in the shady section, for the
word KAHVILA in Jugenstil letters.  

This brass sign is about 12 inches wide or 30 cm.  

Looking for these signs can transform any walk, in any city, into a treasure hunt.  My tips for finding the calligraphy around you: look high, look low, and look again.  

Two takes on Turku

I had just an hour to walk around Turku.  What a lovely city: but the only lettering I found was made of flowers.  And spray paint. 

A gold mine of calligraphy was to be found at the calligraphy conference nearby.  Finland's first national meeting; 80 calligraphers; half a dozen workshops; high level of design and execution; next year's convention already mapped out.  Everything.    

More beautiful Finnish letters!

House identification placque.

This week I'm back in Helsinki for a revisit.  Last year I thought I found every last gorgeous letter in town, but it took just a few short walks around to reveal a new batch for me.  

Here are a few gems:

"Suomi" is Finland's own traditional name for itself.  Above, and at right, it appears in hefty letters that emphasize the strength of the doorway below it.   

BÖLS is the name of the stock exchange, it is
appropriately carved of solid granite, in a style
that looks like pure muscle in letter form.

A few more Art Nouveau letters from Finland

Slightly curved letters.  

I've posted a lot of numerals since I got back from Finland.  Now here are a few whole words.  They show some of the creative range of Jugenstil.  

Enjoy!  

Bell-bottomed letters.  

An S with a chef's toque.  

A curved and curliqued N, with a double-underlined O.  Sweet.  

Creative use of brickwork.

Look at the top of the arch.  

Calligraphic treasures from Helsinki neighborhoods

After last week's love note to visual Helsinki, are you wondering who could possibly be impervious to the Art Nouveau charms of Finnish architectural letters and numbers?  An ex-pat found the answer.  

Recently the American ambassador's wife, Cody Douglas Oreck authored a book* of photographs about those neighborhoods. Her motivation?  She says that when she told Finnish friends how much she liked the inventive facades, they looked puzzled, because they take their enchanting cityscape for granted.  It should make you pay better attention to what you might be overlooking in your own neighborhood.  

*(Unfortunately, it's now very out of print.  You can get it in a Kindle version.  Storybook Helsinki)  

Sorry about uneven tone.  Still mastering this skill.  

Art Nouveau has its own special flavor in Finland, showcased in its hundred-year old building facades.  Now I wonder if the graffiti have their own special Finnish style, too?  

I'm not finished with the architectural numbers of Helsinki

It turns out I have more photos, using a borrowed camera, taken on one of those days I walked around Helsinki's Jugendstil neighborhood.  So here are a few more irresistible numerals in the Art Nouveau style that was the latest thing a century ago.

It's worth a trip to see them.  

Helsinki ABC's and 123's

A recent trip to Finland opened my eyes to a treasure house of beautiful letters on buildings there.  The capital city is full of visual treats.

 A unique Helsinki residence facade.

Like many cities, Helsinki went through a period of prosperity--theirs occurred around 1905-1915--during which whole new neighborhoods went up.  To showcase their modernity, young architects specified the new, sleek Jugendstil, which was then known more commonly in France, England, and the US as Art Nouveau.  They interpreted it in a fresh, distinctly Finnish way, with coils, local materials, and historic colors.  

  

But if you look closer at those entryways and signs, and if you are a letter-noticer like me, you begin to see wonderful calligraphy as well as ornament.  I took a few snapshots of letters and numerals in the chilly rain, and hope to get more on a return visit next year.    

Finns use a lot of coils.  

I love that numeral 1.  

Swans, a characteristic motif of Jugendstil

Names of businesses, private homes, and apartment houses offer lots of Jugendstil letters.  Complete with their awkward spacing.  Note the first 5 letters above.   

We don't see as many examples of this charming letter style in American cities, because our downtown building boom had already come and gone a little earlier, when Gothic Revival dominated late 19th century architecture.  Finland also did not share America's 1950's booming prosperity following WWII, which swept away many smaller, older American city neighborhoods that had housed the now out-of-style Art Nouveau. The Finns were actually obligated first to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union.  It sounds surreal. Periods of economic stagnation, however, tend to be periods when people make do with older buildings; that's how all those Gothic Revival buildings survived in Boston, and how Jugendstil buildings survived in Finland.   

Today dozens of doorways, lintels, and plaques delight the strolling tourist in Helsinki.  Only one kind of passerby is immune to the charms of Jugendstil.  Check next week's post to find out who, and why.