Helsinki - House of the Estates

From Helsinki's Senate Square, Snellmaninkatu runs north. On the right, just beyond Kirkkokatu, can be seen the former House of the Estates (1891). Over the entrance is a bronze group (by Emil Wikström, 1903) depicting Tsar Alexander I at the Diet of Borgå in 1809. Opposite, in front of the Bank of Finland, is a statue of the Finnish statesman and philosopher J. V. Snellman (1806-81), who secured the recognition of Finnish as an official language on an equal basis with Swedish. Diagonally opposite the Bank, at the corner of Rauhankatu, are the National Archives; here too is an attractive cafe.