Helsinki
Uusimaa
Snellmaninkatu 9-11
(Säätytalo - House of the Estates)
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Aleksanteri I ja Porvoon valtiopäivät 1809
Alexander I and the Diet of Porvoo in 1809
The Diet of Porvoo was the summoned legislative assembly to establish the Grand Principality of Finland in 1809 and the heir of the powers of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
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Emil Wikström
1903
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Description
Pediment sculpture group - 18.6 x 3.12 meter - comprises 26 figures.
(click on the photo for an enlargement in a separate window.)
- The central group shows Czar Alexander I, flanked by representatives of the four Estates:
left:
- Nobility: marshal Robert Wilhelm De Geer (1750-1820) (Wikipedia).
- Burghers: Kristian Trapp.
and right:
- Clergy: archbishop Jacob Tengström (1755-1832) (Wikipedia).
- Peasants: Pietari Klockars.
At the bottom, the Finnish coat of arms and a banderole with the Latin text leges et institvta fenniæ solenniter comfirmatæ.
- On both sides of the central group are allegorical figures representing Law - with a shield lex - 1734 - 1772, referring to the Act of 1734 and the 1772 form of government - and faith.
- The groups in the 'points' depict
- (right) the development of the nation through battle with the pieces: War (a wounded soldier), Reconciliation, Towards a better future (old man and a boy) and God Bless the Land of the Fathers (a woman raising a cross).
- (left) the development through work is depicted by: the Kantele player, First teaching, Agriculture, Trade, Industry, Science and Art.
(click on the photo for an enlargement in a separate window.)
In the frieze are the coats of arms of the nine provinces of Finland, from left to right
Karjala (Karelia), Savo (Savonia), Häme (Tavastia), Uusimaa, Varsinais-Suomi (Finland-Proper), Satakunta, Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia), Lappi (Laponia) and Ahvenanmaa (Åland).
(click on the photo for an enlargement in a separate window.)
Annotation
The House of the Estates, designed by Gustaf Nyström, was completed in 1890 to serve as a place of assembly for the three estates below the rank of nobility. On the Estates' initiative a competition was arranged to find a sculptor to carry out the tympanum group. The competition was won by young Emil Wikström's entry 'The development of the Finnish people through battle and work to the first Diet in 1809'. The production was delayed because a fire in Wikström's studie destroyed in 1896 the original design and the plaster casts. The sculptor finished the work in Paris, 1897-1902.
Sculptor
- Emil Wikström (Turku 1864 - .. 1942),
Finnish sculptor
(Wikipedia).
Sources & Information
Tags
Locatie (N 60°10'16" - E 24°57'13") (Satellite view: Google Maps)
Item Code: fi106; Photograph: 1 July 2013
Of each statue we made photos from various angles and also detail photos of the various texts.
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© Website and photos: René & Peter van der Krogt
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