Helsinki - Old Town

(Local Name: Vanhakaupunki) To the northeast of Helsinki, some 15 minutes from the center, on Hämeentie (the road to Lahti), is the large Arabia porcelain factory (museum). A short distance to the northeast of this, at the mouth of the Vantaanjoki, lies the Vanhakaupunki (Old Town), the site on which Helsinki was founded in 1550. In Vanhakaupungintie, on the left, can be seen a stone slab marking the position of the first church and the first churchyard. Farther along, on the right, is a granite wall with a portrait of Gustavus Vasa. On the ground is a slab inscribed with a plan of the original town. On the highest point stands a triangular pillar topped by a sphere (by B. Brunila, 1932).