Helsinki is like no other European city I have visited, though it reminds me a bit of Stockholm, and some of its beautiful stone buildings bring back memories of Madrid.

The prolonged winter of Europe has taken its toll on the Finnish capital too, sending temperatures plunging below zero degree Celsius. But for an Indian who is fascinated by the snow – not having lived with the trauma of having to shovel it off your front entrance – snowfall in the last few days has added an ethereal beauty and charm to the city.

Add to the stunning image of fresh white snow-covered pine, birch and oak trees, and sprawling parks that dominate Helsinki, the frozen Baltic Sea, which is struggling to thaw in bits and pieces as winter gives way to spring, and you can understand why visitors are fascinated by this northern European city.

Thanks to a rendezvous with Franco Oliva, an Italian friend who has flown into Helsinki, I get insights into this beautiful white city through two locals. One is Franco’s friend John Simon, an American who has lived in Helsinki for 30 years; he is married to Hanneli, a Finn. He drives us around the city, with one of our first halts being at the breathtakingly beautiful National Library building. Housing over three million books, the architecture of this building, done in pastel yellow and ochre, takes your breath away. The majestic tall columns in the mammoth circular hall, the beautifully engraved and glass-covered high circular ceiling, the leather-bound volumes of ancient books stacked along the shelves across different levels, all visible from the ground level and no fuss at all as you pull open the heavy entrance to enter.

Bang opposite the library is the huge senate square that houses a statue of Alexander II, and across the square is the majestic Helsinki Cathedral which can be spotted from various parts of the city.

Next I clap eyes on an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral built originally as a tribute to Nicholas I, the Russian Tsar, and till Finland’s independence in 1917, it was called St. Nicholas Church.

Built in neoclassical style, this cathedral is a distinctive landmark in the city, with its tall, green dome surrounded by four smaller domes. A classical Lutheran church – over 80 per of Fins are Lutherans – it is rather stark inside, devoid of all the embellishments that Roman Catholic churches typically have. But it has brilliant chandeliers inside, and statues of the 12 Apostles of Christ outside. I agree with Simon’s comment that while most tourists flock to the Lutheran church, the library building opposite is much more spectacular from within.

During a panoramic tour of the city, our guide observed that most Finns visit churches only during Christmas or weddings, reminding me of what a Swedish friend had said in Stockholm over a decade ago. “For most Swedish people in Stockholm, the meeting point every Sunday is Ikea and not the church… for us Ikea is like what the churches are for other Christians.”

Well, if one were to ascribe a single passion that can match religious fervour to Finns, it is surely the sauna. There are reportedly two million saunas in Finland – for a population of about 5.5 million. “So if every Finn decides to use the sauna at the same time, that is possible,” said our guide. She added that whenever Finnish troops join a UN mission, “the first thing they build is a sauna, and it doesn’t matter if that mission is in the middle of a desert.”

Land of Sauna

Whether it is iconic Finnish companies like Nokia or Kone, apartment blocks or even private apartments, space for the sauna takes high priority. And even in winters, when the temperatures are several degrees below zero degree Celsius and the Baltic is frozen, large openings are made on the surface of the sea close to what are beaches in summer. While visitors are literally trembling in their shoes, out will come a few Finns from a sauna chamber and plunge into the depths of the freezing water for an invigorating dip – a skinny dip of course - or even a swim with a few strokes!

“And those who can’t do that… in private homes some people will come out of the sauna, roll on the snow outside a few times, go back to the sauna, come out again for some more rolling in the snow, and this can go on a few times,” says Hannele.

> rasheeda.bhagat@thehindu.co.in

(To be continued)

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