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21-480: Felix Nylund submitted a design for a smith statue for a memorial for Johan Vilhelm Snellman in 1913. In 1919 he designed a monumental statue with three smiths located on top of a stone pillar ten metres high. Neither of these designs was actually made into a statue, but Nylund took advantage of his previous designs when sculpting the Three Smiths Statue. Of the three smiths depicted in the statue, one

42-761: A language decree from the Emperor that would gradually give Finns a position equal to that of the Swedish within the Finnish government. In practical terms it meant the re-establishment of the Parliament, which had remained inhibited since the Russian conquest. A separate Finnish currency , the Markka , was introduced in 1860, and Snellman managed to tie it to silver instead of to the ruble . The Markka came to be of

63-476: A 1960 coin, commemorating the introduction of the markka denomination in 1860. He was recently selected as the main motif for another commemorative coin, the €10 Johan Vilhelm Snellman commemorative coin , minted in 2006 celebrating the 200th anniversary of his birth. The obverse depicts J.V. Snellman. It also depicts the logo of the Europe Coins Programme. The reverse design features represent

84-462: A year later. Snellman was educated at the Royal Academy of Turku from 1822, where he studied theology as well as history, Greek, Latin and world literature, as well as a little bit of physics and other natural sciences. While studying at the academy, Snellman also received permanent national romantic influences, but he differed from the romantics in that he was interested in the future and

105-492: Is a heating system underneath Aleksanterinkatu keeping the street free from snow and ice even in temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius. The heat comes from warm water flowing from the nearby buildings. Thus people can sit at the statue even in wintertime. Upon close investigation of the statue, it can be seen that the positions of the smiths are more artistic than realistic: the smiths are standing so close to each other that if they were to actually hammer, they would hit each other on

126-465: Is a master smith holding the iron on an anvil. The other two smiths are hammering on the iron. Nylund used wrestlers from the gymnastics and sports club Jyry as models for the smiths' bodies. The master smith has the face of poet Arvid Mörne , the smith holding his hammer up has Nylund's own face, and the smith holding his hammer down has the face of sculptor Aku Nuutinen. It is said that mason Paavo Koskinen and police officer Sundström posed as models for

147-591: The 1830s–1840s, accumulate too much resistance and aversion to his person and his policies. In 1868 he was forced to resign from the senate. For the remainder of his life, he continued to participate in the political debate, and now ennobled he belonged to the Nobles' Chamber of the parliament. Snellman never lost his popularity among his Fennoman followers, but he had become a highly divisive symbol in Finland's political landscape. Johan Vilhelm Snellman first appeared on

168-544: The bodies. The top part of the bronze statue's granite base is encircled by the Latin text MONUMENTUM – CURAVIT – LEGATUM – J. TALLBERGIANUM – PRO HELSINGFORS A.D. MCMXXXII ("The statue was erected with the help of a donation from J. Tallberg by Pro Helsingfors in the year 1932"). The statue was donated to the city of Helsinki by the Pro Helsingfors foundation , which had acquired it with

189-615: The dawn of Finnish culture. A park in Kuopio called the Snellman Park ( Snellmaninpuisto ) has been named after J. V. Snellman; it was formerly known as the former location of the Kuopio Market Square . In the middle of the park, a bust of J. V. Snellman sculpted by Johannes Takanen was unveiled on July 3, 1886. Snellman's birthday on May 12 is dedicated to him and it has become one of Finland's flag days , known as

210-703: The head instead of the anvil. The original gypsum models of the statue have been located in the library of the Finnish Workers' Academy in Kauniainen . Nowadays the statue is annually capped with Santa Claus hats at the end of November at the Wappujoulu event of the University of Helsinki student organisation Limes. In spring 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic surgical masks were placed on

231-546: The help of a monetary donation by the businessman Julius Tallberg . Tallberg's commerce house is situated at the northern end of the Three Smiths Square. The statue was damaged in a bombing during the Continuation War in 1944. Marks of the damage can still be seen in the base of the statue, and the anvil has a hole caused by a bomb shrapnel. The Three Smiths Square is a popular meeting place. There

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252-553: The political juncture did not allow the university to employ him. Instead, he took up the position as headmaster for a school in distant Kuopio and published starkly polemical periodicals, including the paper Saima in Swedish , which advocated the duty of the educated classes to take up the language of the then circa 85% majority of Finns, and develop Finnish into a language of the civilized world, useful for academic works, fine arts, state craft, and nation building . Saima

273-660: The smiths and an effigy of the Coronavirus was placed on the anvil so it looked like the smiths were hammering down on the virus. According to a survey done by Helsingin Sanomat , most Helsinkians view the location of the statue as the centre point of Helsinki. The Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki hosts a 2014 sculpture Kolme seppää tauolla ("Three smiths on a break") by the English sculptor Nick Farmer , where

294-442: The smiths have left their tools behind and are eating ice cream. 60°10′07″N 024°56′27″E  /  60.16861°N 24.94083°E  / 60.16861; 24.94083 Johan Vilhelm Snellman Johan Vilhelm Snellman ( Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjuːhɑn ˈvilːhelm ˈsnelːmɑn] ; 12 May 1806 – 4 July 1881) was an influential Fennoman philosopher and Finnish statesman , ennobled in 1866. He

315-533: The spiritual activity of nations instead of history. He settled in Helsinki in 1828 when the university was moved there, after the Great Fire of Turku earlier that year. In 1835, after academic work amongst followers of Hegel , Snellman was appointed lecturer at the University of Helsinki , where he belonged to the famous circle of Cygnaeus , Lönnrot , and Runeberg comprising the brightest of their generation. Snellman's lectures quickly became popular with

336-464: The students, but in November 1838 his lectureship was temporarily recalled after a judicial proceeding that ultimately aimed to establish firm governmental control of new and oppositional thought among the academics. As a consequence, Snellman exiled himself to Sweden and Germany, more or less voluntarily, from 1839 to 1842. By the time he returned to Helsinki, his popularity had increased further, but

357-453: The utmost value for Finland. Snellman's tenure as Finance Minister would be tainted by the Finnish famine of 1866–1868 , aggravated by the government's strict fiscal policy , but Snellman worked to get aid while trying to protect the new currency. Snellman's inflexibility and high profile position in the political debate would however, together with his old reputation as radical agitator of

378-402: Was finally appointed professor, which was met with great satisfaction among politically interested Finns. However, Snellman's unparalleled popularity could not remain. He was a generation older than the most active political opposition, and now backed a government which had the brightest expectations for Finland under the rule of Emperor Alexander II . The language strife in Finland , of which he

399-668: Was one of the most important 'awakeners' or promoters of Finnish nationalism, alongside Elias Lönnrot and J. L. Runeberg . Snellman was born in Stockholm, Sweden , the son of Kristian Henrik Snellman, a ship's captain. After the Russian conquest of Finland in 1808–09, and the promising establishment of the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland , his family moved there in 1813, to the Ostrobothnian coastal town of Kokkola . His mother Maria Magdalena Snellman died there only

420-701: Was suppressed by the government in 1846. In 1848–49, Snellman was again rebuffed when applying for the position of professor at Finland's University in Helsinki. After having contemplated a renewed exile in Sweden, this time possibly definitive, Snellman in 1850 gave up the position in Kuopio and moved to Helsinki, where he and his family lived under economically awkward conditions until the death of Emperor Nicholas in 1855. Then it again became possible for Snellman to publish periodical papers on political issues. He had married Johanna Lovisa Wennberg in 1845, and they had five children before her death in 1857. In 1856, Snellman

441-671: Was the chief initiator, contributed also to substantial opposition against him and his views. Finally and not least, his stance against the Polish rebels of the January Uprising of 1863 was seen by many as the ultimate sign of unprincipled ingratiation. In 1863 Snellman was called to a cabinet post in the Senate of Finland , in effect as Chancellor of the Exchequer, where he became an energetic and valued senator. He accomplished

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