Treasure hunting in Helsinki - look no further

The library exists to preserve printed treasures, ancient and modern. Its position, where east and west meet, make it unique. In its corridors and halls, old and new western and Finnish classics meet a comprehensive collection of 19th century Russian printed matter, including an exceptional assortment of works written in the eight minority languages of the empire. Probably nowhere else are these documents so well preserved and open to the public.

Dating back to the 1600s, the library is a treasury of great distinction containing some spectacular donations, such as the Enlightenment-era library collection of Monrepos Manor, received from private sources. Another notable example are the Nordenskiöld papers, which include a collection of cartographical literature collected by explorer A. E. Nordenskiöld.

Of singular interest are books and documents whose provenance reflects more than 700 years of Finnish history, covering the periods when Finland was part of the Swedish and Russian empires respectively as well as the years since independence in 1917.

The Library's premises in the centre of Helsinki were recently extended to make it the focal point of Finland's academic life.

Roots in the 17th century

In 1640, Sweden's third university was established, in Finland, as the Royal Academy of Turku. It was meant to eventually rival the best universities of Europe as a seat of learning. But its beginnings were modest. The Academy's library started with a stock of 21 books transferred from a local school.

Slowly the library expanded through acquisitions, donations and publications from the Academy’s own printing house, which was established in 1642. Its growth gathered pace once the right to a free copy, (known formally as a legal deposit copy), granted to the library in 1707, was applied to printed material from all printing houses in the Swedish realm.

A home for the nation’s literature

Illustration from the 1896 book of the coronation of Nicholas II, Czar of Russia, from the Slavonic Collection.

The Academy of Turku began to acquire European scientific literature and the right to free copies of printed material from all over the Swedish realm added Swedish and Finnish literature to its stock. Finland was then a province of Sweden and literature was mainly in two languages, Latin, the language of science, and Swedish, the language of the gentry and the educated. Gradually, devotional and educational literature and hymn books began to appear in the vernacular of the commoners, Finnish.

During the latter half of the 1700s, the Academy's librarian, Henrik Gabriel Porthan, suggested that the library should collect all publications that were part of the "literary history of the people" and thus the idea for a national library was born.

Growth with risks

The Turku library developed in stages, alternating between stable growth and periods when its existence was threatened by war and other perils. When conflict between Sweden and Russia broke out in 1713, the Turku books were stowed in crates and shipped to Stockholm where they remained unpacked for nine years.

The library stock was again moved to Stockholm for a short time in 1742 because of the risk of more warfare. Despite the disturbances it was during the latter half of the 1700s that the library’s collection expanded most rapidly. Porthan wrote of significant donations from no less than Queen Lovisa Ulrika herself and from the country’s leading academics, bibliophiles and officials.

In 1809, Finland was annexed by Russia as an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Czar. Understandably, this change of authority severed the Academy of Turku’s links with the Swedish scientific community and the administration in Stockholm. However, the Academy's freedoms and special rights, including the right to free copies, were in fact strengthened under an edict of the Czar.

The great fire of Turku — destruction and rebirth

In September 1827, a disastrous fire broke out in Turku. Spreading rapidly through the wooden buildings, it soon destroyed a large part of the town. The Academy and its library were annihilated. Only books that had been on loan outside the town survived. Of the collection totalling some 40,000 volumes only 800 evaded the flames.

Photo: Kari Timonen

The Dome Hall.

Under an imperial proclamation of 1828, the Academy of Turku was to be relocated to Helsinki, the new capital of the Grand Duchy, where it was renamed the Imperial Alexander University of Finland. Carl Ludvig Engel, a Berlin-born architect, was commissioned to design a new library, the senate building, the main university building and the Lutheran cathedral. Engel's ensuing galaxy of neo-classicism is still the heart of Helsinki.

The fire of Turku raised eyebrows across Europe and it was reported widely in the press. One outcome of the disaster was an appeal for new books to replace the ones destroyed. Book donations arrived from many countries along with gifts of books from several of Finland’s leading collectors and money for the library was raised in a nationwide collection.

The largest book donations came from St Petersburg. Most notable was the gift in 1832 from Captain Paul Alexandroff, a cavalry officer and grandson of Czar Paul I. It contained 24,000 works covering most branches of science and included rare and beautiful volumes from the imperial family.

Under Russian rule — free copies from across a huge country

Finnish provincial coats of arms from the map of Finland printed in 1662 by Joan Blaeun. Blaeun’s splendid, 11-volume, folio-sized atlas, Atlas maior, is part of the A.E. Nordenskiöld collection.

Russia's Censorship Act of 1828 gave the University of Helsinki the right to receive free copies of publications from the whole of the Russian empire, even its most remote areas. Consequently, in addition to an extensive collection of Russian literature, the library houses an exceptional collection of works from the period 1828-1917 written in minority languages of the empire: Armenian, Hebrew, Yiddish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Georgian, and Arabic. Literature from the same period, published in Russia in western languages such as German, French and English, was also obtained.

Traveller and collector of national literature

In the 19th century, the academic Fredrik Wilhelm Pipping emerged as a collector of national literature dedicated to replacing the works lost in the fire of Turku. He was assisted by a book collector and dealer Matti Pohto. Although Pohto was not a scholar, he was precise and skilful in identifying old books. Pohto would bring the books he had collected for the learned Pipping to examine and would hand over his duplicate copies to the National Library.

Pohto was killed in Vyborg in 1857, after which his book collection was bequeathed to the National Library. Thus, many thousands of works that were part of the country’s national literature were saved for posterity. Many other benefactors supported the library with donations, generosity that demonstrates that the Finns are a nation of readers and that literature is close to their hearts.

The Nordenskiöld collection

Arnold Colom’s map of the world from his maritime atlas Atlas marin, ou Monde maritime, 1659. The map is bordered by the base elements: fire, air, earth and water.

The library’s foreign treasures include the collection of early printed geographical and cartographical literature collected by Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832-1901), the Arctic explorer and geologist and one of the great figures in the history of cartography. The collection includes incunabula from the dawn of the art of printing, i.e. works printed before 1500, wonderful hand-painted atlases, travel literature from journeys of discovery and the first descriptions of areas previously unknown. The collection is unique in terms of its early literature, and the works are examples of the development of our picture of the world from antiquity to the 1800s. The collection was selected for Unesco's Memory of the World Register in 1997.

The 20th century and beyond

The increase in the size of the library's collection demanded the construction of new premises. The Rotunda, a semicircular extension to the Engel building, was designed by the architect Gustaf Nyström and completed in 1906. During the 1950s, underground storage facilities were built beneath the university's Porthania building, and in the municipality of Asikkala, 130 km from Helsinki, the former byre of Urajärvi Manor was turned into a storehouse for books.

Librarians and architects from many countries have been there to see how elegantly the alterations were carried out. The building also houses newspapers, copied onto microfilm for ease of use, an asset that inspired the facility's nickname of 'newspaper mausoleum'. The library is among the world's leading experts in transferring newspapers onto microfilm due to the breadth and scope of material available.

In the year 2000, the library acquired another underground storage facility which in terms of security and building technology is state-of-the-art. Visitors from abroad have often expressed surprised that storage facilities for the library are underground, because there seems to be plenty of space in Finland above ground. The reason is that subterranean facilities are good with regard to security and in evening out seasonal climatic fluctuations.

A menu dated August 28, 1885 illustrated with a motif of Helsinki, from the National Collection’s Ephemera items.

Since Finland's independence, in 1917, the library has received significant donations, such as the collection of the Monrepos Manor library that was located in Vyborg, a library typical of the Age of Enlightenment. The collection is particularly precious because of its contents and the beauty of its leather covers, the work of bookbinders in St Petersburg.

The founder of the collection, which contains some 9,000 works, was the German writer and cosmopolitan Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay (1737-1820), who was employed at the imperial court in St Petersburg. The collection containing nearly 11,000 works, donated by a French Ambassador to Finland, Maurice de Coppet (1868-1930), contains literature from France and from an array of other nations and cultures.

The library also stores manuscripts relating to Finnish cultural history, art and science, and music manuscripts, of which the most significant is the collection of hand-written scores by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). They are of great interest both to performing artists and musicologists.

A shrine of art and science in Helsinki's neo-classical centre

The extension of the Library's premises in 1998 was a major event in its history. The extra premises were acquired from the University of Helsinki, when some of its faculties were moved to northern Helsinki. Only the faculties of theology, law, arts, behavioural science and social sciences remain located in Helsinki's historical centre. Together with these departments, the National Library, which is also the University's main library, form the nucleus of Finland's academic life.

The increased space meant new reading rooms, more services and better exhibition areas. In addition to being a place for researchers and students to work and meet in, the library is open to all. And more than just an informational centre, it is also a venue for concerts, lectures, and exhibitions.

Collections from east and west

The library is a place where east meets west. Its collections contain knowledge and information ranging from cultures of past eras to current scientific achievements. Researchers from Europe, the Americas, Russia, indeed from any and every part of the world, are welcome to examine western literature and the extensive collection of free copies of Russian printed matter from the 19th century. In addition to Finland’s own national literature and foreign scientific literature, the library houses both a Slavonic library and an American Research Center.

Printed in the memory

Printed in the Memory — Literary Treasures in the National Library of Finland (Helsinki University Library and Otava, 2004) is a book that elaborates on the absorbing special features of the collections and how they have been gathered over the centuries. Finland's neighbours and former rulers, Sweden and Russia, have enriched the collections and left an indelible mark on them. The book also covers relations with other countries — from the perspective of interaction involving science and art and literature.



	© 1995 – 2008, Virtual Finland Produced by: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland Department for Communication and Culture/Unit for Public Diplomacy