Kupittaan Seikkailupuisto
Seikkailupuistossa kesällä 2025 paljastettu teos Suuret muinaiset päiväunilla kuvaa salaperäisiä olentoja, jotka vaikuttavat fossiileilta, mutta lähemmin tarkasteltuna paljastuvatkin eläviksi. Teosta työstettiin Suurten muinaisten arkeologinen seikkailu -työpajoissa, joissa lapset pääsivät kuvittele…
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Paattisten koulu
Kati Rapia’s artwork City of Animals is located in the surroundings of the school Paattisten koulu and the community centre Ypsilon in Yli-Maaria. The work consists of two signposts pointing towards animals’ habitats. It combines scientific knowledge of the area’s ecology with humour and imagination…
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Yli-Maarian monitoimitalo
Kati Rapia’s artwork City of Animals is located in the surroundings of the school Paattisten koulu and the community centre Ypsilon in Yli-Maaria. The work consists of two signposts pointing towards animals’ habitats. It combines scientific knowledge of the area’s ecology with humour and imagination…
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Runosmäen monitoimitalo Riimi
In the work, a sturdy flagpole has been bent into a circular form resembling a nest shaped by the wind or a bird. Playful and humorous yet airy and light, the work serves as a landmark in the courtyard of the community centre Riimi in Runosmäki. The nest symbolises the sense of community that charac…
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Yli-Maarian monitoimitalo
Jani Rättyä’s sculpture Capsule rests on a rocky outcrop beside the community centre in Yli-Maaria. The work takes its form from a spruce cone, but its large size, metal construction and internal lighting make it resemble a futuristic technological device, almost like a spacecraft. The cone shape re…
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Paakarlanpuisto
Pansion Lumikonmäellä, metsän ympäröimän kallion laella sijaitsee Jouna Karsin ja Suvi Solkion valotaideteos Pesä. Teos on toteutettu Turun kaupungin Kaunistamisrahaston tuella, yhteisötaidehankkeena alueen asukkaiden kanssa. Vuonna 1932 rakennetun entisen lentomajakan huipulla sijaitseva valotaidet…
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Kupittaanpuisto
Papu is an artwork created for play and produced through a collaboration between five artists. Community participation was central to the project from the outset, and ideas for the work were collected through workshops for children. This allowed its future users to participate in the planning proces…
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Barkerinpuisto
The memorial depicts Finnish motorcycle road racer Jarno Karl Keimo Saarinen (born 11 December 1945 in Turku, died 20 May 1973 in Monza, Italy), who became world champion in 1972. Saarinen was killed in a racing accident at the Monza circuit. The sculpture was donated to the City of Turku by the Jar…
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Myllysilta / Itäinen Rantakatu
Those Looking Up to the Stars, located beside Myllysilta Bridge, consists of four sculptures representing different stages of human life. The figures, whose visual language draws inspiration from the world of cartoons and is characterised by exaggerated and distorted anatomical forms, express dreams…
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Myllysilta / Läntinen Rantakatu
Those Looking Up to the Stars, located beside Myllysilta Bridge, consists of four sculptures representing different stages of human life. The figures, whose visual language draws on the world of cartoons and is characterised by exaggerated and distorted anatomy, convey dreams, contemplation and mome…
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Myllysilta / Läntinen Rantakatu
Those Looking Up to the Stars, located beside Myllysilta Bridge, consists of four sculptures representing different stages of human life. The figures, whose visual language draws inspiration from the world of cartoons and is characterised by exaggerated and distorted anatomical forms, express dreams…
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Myllysilta / Itäinen Rantakatu
Those Looking Up to the Stars, located beside Myllysilta Bridge, consists of four sculptures representing different stages of human life. The figures, whose visual language draws inspiration from the world of cartoons and is characterised by exaggerated and distorted anatomical forms, express dreams…
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Tyks Kaskenlinnan sairaala
The cycle of life is expressed in the work through both the plantings, which change with the seasons, and the silhouetted human figures. The artwork and the birch trees planted beside it soften the transition in scale between the courtyard and the massive hospital building. The artist intended to cr…
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Läntinen Rantakatu 1, Aurajoen ranta
The bronze sculpture A Meeting in Turku in 1812 depicts an event of great significance in Finnish history: the meeting between tsar Alexander I and Swedish Crown Prince Charles John in the governor’s house that once stood nearby. The negotiations concerned major issues in European politics, but the …
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Aurajoenrannan ulkoilupolku
Taiteilija Eero Merimaan teos koostuu liiketunnistimilla toimivista värivalotolpista. Ruostuneiden teräsputkien päässä loistavat eriväriset, kukkamaiset lamput valaisevat suosittua kuntoilureittiä pimeän aikaan, kun ohikulkija aktivoi teoksen liikesensorit. Valoisaan aikaan tarkasteltuna teknokukkie…
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Itäinen Rantakatu 72
Sculptor Merja Pitkänen’s sculptural group Pearls is made of steel, a material that alludes to the possibilities of technology. At the same time, its forms, reminiscent of water droplets or shoreline stones, evoke nature and environmental values. Using industrial material-processing techniques, the …
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Uudenmaankadun ja Kupittaankadun kulma
Turku Energian muuntajarakennusta päällystää taiteilija Kim Simonssonin keraaminen taideteos Temppeli, jota koristavat eläin- ja lapsiaiheiset reliefit eli korkokuvat. Reliefejä on käytetty tuhansia vuosia koristeellisissa ja informatiivisissa tarkoituksissa temppelien seinillä. Simonssonin tiukasta…
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Aurajoen länsiranta
Kuvataiteilija Oona Tikkaojan (s.1976) Piiloleikki koostuu 28 Aurajoen länsirannalle sijoitetusta 5-10-vuotiaiden lasten tekemästä pienoispronssiveistoksesta, joiden teemana on ollut omakuva. Veistokset on sijoitettu Aurajoen länsirannalle Martinsillan ja Turun linnan puiston väliselle alueelle last…
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Telakkaranta
Portuguese artist Vhils drew the visual language of Remains from Turku’s maritime history. The work, which is six metres high and more than five metres wide, resembles the bow of a ship. Portraits of Turku-born shipbuilders have been cut from stainless steel and incorporated into its weathered exter…
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Linnankatu 42
Kimono muodostuu jäteveden puhdistamon piippuun rakennetuista, japanilaisten kimonoiden muotoisista erikoistiilistä. Taiteilijan idean mukaisesti teoksen valmistuessa puhdistamoon myös asetettiin suodatin, joka poistaa hajuhaittoja. Kimono kiinnittää huomion ja samalla koristaa paikkaa, joka ei muut…
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Vähätori
Saara Ekström’s environmental artwork Refrain is located in the heart of historic Turku, enhancing the public space created for residents beside the Main Library. Although the work is made from heavy industrial material, the silhouette-like, symmetrically arranged rose ornamentation cut through the …
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Turun pääkirjaston sisäpiha
In sculptor Miina Äkkijyrkkä’s work Sweet Yellow Melon, a heavy material, steel, is combined with a subject central to the artist’s work: a calf of the Eastern Finncattle breed. Steel beams usually associated with industrial settings form a delicate depiction of a calf tentatively finding its feet. …
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Biolinja
The environmental artwork in Turku Science Park consists of two pedestrian and cycle bridges and 24 lighting columns. Created by Turku-born artist Jan-Erik Andersson, the work combines practical functionality with strong sculptural expression. Atop the rainbow-coloured streetlights, wind-powered sci…
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Tuomaanpuisto
The work depicts a real event: General of Infantry Adolf Ehrnrooth inspecting his regiment, JR 7, on the Karelian Isthmus on 4 June 1944. The major Soviet offensive on the isthmus began a few days after the inspection. The relief portrays the general as a leader who cared for his soldiers and took r…
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Olavinpuisto
Artist Kimmo Ojaniemi’s bronze sculpture marks the site where St Olaf’s Convent once stood. The bronze work consists of silhouettes of Dominican friars walking with staffs and is mounted on a diabase pedestal. The seal of St Olaf’s Convent and a floor plan of the former monastery building, based on …
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Tervatori
Dutch artist Jits Bakker drew the subject of his sculpture from the myth of Europa in ancient Greek mythology. Zeus, who was known for his amorous adventures, fell in love with the beautiful princess Europa. Disguised as a white bull, he abducted her and carried her on his back to the island of Cret…
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Nummenranta
Located beside an exercise trail in the cultural landscape of Koroinen, the sculptural group provides a place for both people and their pets to rest. Visitors are usually discouraged from touching works of art, but anyone taking a break from their run can stretch out against Peltola’s sculptural gro…
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Aurakatu 2
Sculptor, art professor Laila Pullinen’s sculpture Icarus refers to the ancient Greek myth of Icarus. The Athenian inventor Daedalus made wings for himself and his son Icarus so that they could escape from their imprisonment on Crete. Despite his father’s warnings, Icarus flew too close to the sun a…
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Vanhan akatemiatalon aukio
Artist Maaria Wirkkala’s three-part work Shred of Knowledge is a memorial to the nearby Old Academy Building and its successors, today’s knowledge-seeking researchers. Emphasising the immaterial and referring to several different historical layers, the memorial consists of a bronze ring installed at…
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Vanha Suurtori
Artist Kain Tapper’s environmental artwork Flow of Time is a memorial to fleeting moments and the generations that came before us. The work marks the edge of the Old Great Square and the route of the former street. The stream of water that flows along the top of the artwork before descending into th…
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Pispalantie 5
Posanka is a cross between a rubber duck and a marzipan pig. Through the pig-duck motif, artist Alvar Gullichsen draws attention to the ethical questions surrounding genetic modification while also celebrating the legacy of Turku’s avant-garde movement. Posanka made its ceremonial arrival on the ban…
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Helsinginkatu, Tuomaanpuiston kohdalla
Artist Leena Ikonen’s steel environmental artwork Veil of Ice follows and extends the angular forms of the bedrock. Its striking lighting creates the impression of an icy cliff, particularly at night.
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Teatterisilta
A legendary figure in the city is Valpuri Innamaa. She was a successful 16th-century businesswoman who, after being widowed, built up a thriving enterprise. The two figures meet in the heart of the city on Theatre Bridge. They are the main characters in a three-part story created by artist Jan-Erik …
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Halisten vesilaitoksen alue
Beside the Halinen Waterworks stands a sculpture in which three human figures carry shallow bowls through which water flows into the pool below. The work is based on an idea by Gösta Wahlroos, a former operations manager at the Turku Waterworks. Tove Schalin was responsible for its artistic design a…
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Myllyahteen tunneli
Artist Kimmo Ojaniemi’s light artwork Gaia’s Eye is embedded in a concrete wall inside the rock along the wall of Myllytunneli tunnel. The work is based on biochemist James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis, according to which the biosphere functions as a self-regulating system capable of affecting the con…
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Aurajoki, Vierasvenesatama
Italian-born artist Achim Kühn’s sculpture Harmony is a clear example of how the natural environment, modern technology and artistic imagination can be combined. The scales on the tail fin were treated electrolytically using an electric current, creating a complex, glossy surface rich in colour and …
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Peltolan koulutalon piha-alue
Artist Kimmo Ojaniemi’s work The Pyramid of Knowledge consists of an above-ground and an underground part. Older work machines donated by Turku’s twin city Gothenburg during the years of post-war scarcity have been cleaned, varnished and placed below ground beneath glass. The above-ground section co…
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Varvintori
Artist Micha Ullman’s environmental artwork North draws attention to the history of its location. A shipyard once stood on the site, and the granite elements of varying heights can be interpreted as a reference to the piles anchored in the ground and used in shipbuilding. The components have been ar…
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Honkaistenrannantie
The six-part work by the artist group Studio Nurmesniemi blends so seamlessly with its electrical engineering structures, the electricity pylons, that drawing a clear distinction between aesthetics and technology is neither easy nor necessary. The pylons, which stand out distinctly from their surrou…
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Itäinen Rantakatu 12
Artist Outi Sarjakoski’s environmental artwork Network plays with scale. The work can be interpreted as a comment on the role of networking in professional life. An abstract concept is given physical form through a nature-inspired steel structure created on a scale considerably larger than life. The…
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Itäinen Rantakatu 38
Italian-born artist Mariella Bettineschi wanted to connect her work with Finnish culture and the mythology of the northern peoples. She therefore chose the Big Dipper as her subject, a constellation part of the Ursa Major that holds an important place in Finno-Ugric mythology. In Italian, it is know…
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Kurjenkaivonkenttä
Artist Ismo Kajander’s work Memorial to the Turku Civil War Prison Camp ‘535’ marks the site where a Civil War prison camp once stood. At its largest, the camp held approximately 3,300 prisoners, more than one hundred of whom were executed or died of disease. The rusting iron cross, whose red colour…
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Turun sähkölaitos
The Fibonacci sequence glows in the work by Italian artist Mario Merz, who was associated with the Arte Povera movement. In this sequence, each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers. The sequence has many distinctive properties. When represented geometrically, for example, it forms a spiral…
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Vanha Kakskerrantie 32
Juhani Pallasmaan Muistijälki-teos pystytettiin taiteilija Wäinö Aaltosen syntymän 100-vuotisjuhlan kunniaksi. Muistomerkin teräskehikko rajaa Aaltosen lapsuudenkotiin viereen rakennettua ateljeeta, jota ei enää ole olemassa. Muistomerkkiin on integroitu pronssivalos Wäinö Aaltosen muotoilemasta nai…
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Samppalinnanpuisto
This sculpture honouring war veterans was financed through a national fundraising campaign. The memorial was created by architect Aarne Ehojoki (1913–1998), who designed several well-known buildings in Turku. Ehojoki also designed the pedestal for the bust of Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim in Helsinki …
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Rettigin palatsin muuri
Herman Dietrich Spöring was an explorer and the first Finn to visit Australia. He participated in James Cook’s voyage around the world from 1768 to 1771, travelling to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia. Spöring served on board as a secretary and draughtsman responsible for documenting the natural en…
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Vanha Hämeentie 1
The sculpture was modelled on Karl Georg Lemberg, a well-known local character who lived in Nummenpakka and was known as Kissa-Kallu, or Cat Kallu. The legacy of this solitary man, who lived a secluded life, was important to local residents, and the idea of erecting an outdoor sculpture in his memor…
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Vaasanpuisto
Sculptor Maarit Nissilä’s work Strong was erected to honour the life’s work of building contractor and construction technology pioneer Armas Puolimatka. Puolimatka was known as a determined businessman, which is reflected in the memorial’s title, visual language and materials. In keeping with the in…
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Barkerinpuisto
As its title suggests, sculptor Kari Juva’s outdoor sculpture Working to Build Turku celebrates work and workers. Seven male figures stand close together, holding their tools and representing different working-class occupations. The abstract, anonymous figures cannot be associated with any particula…
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Kupittaankatu 146
Sculptor Maarit Nissilä’s bronze sculpture Along the Way refers to the history of the Vähäheikkilä district. The area was once inhabited by cottagers and contained inns where travellers who did not know one another could meet and form new connections. The work is symbolically positioned at a crossro…
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Tuomaanpuisto
The sculpture, erected by the Turku Region Lotta Heritage Association, is a cast of a work originally created by Nina Sailo in 1985. The original statue is located in Lappeenranta. Nearly a quarter of a million Finnish women served their country through the Lotta Svärd organisation between 1921 and …
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Koskenniemenaukio
Sculptor Terho Sakki’s bronze sculpture Muses is a memorial to poet and literary scholar V. A. Koskenniemi, who served for many years as a professor and later as Rector of the University of Turku. In this memorial to a cultural figure who admired the spirit of ancient mythology, the female bodies wi…
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Eskelinkatu 1 / Läntinen Rantakatu 25
Sculptor Jarkko Roth’s granite sculpture Protected Growth honours the City of Turku’s investment in business and the secure environment for growth that the city offers companies. A granite shoot appears to emerge between two granite blocks resembling the halves of a seed coat. Shaped like a germinat…
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Kallelankatu 3
The sculpture was modelled on Frans Viktor Galenius (1870–1930), who was known as Korppu-Vihtori (Rusk-Viktor). He travelled around the Salo region and once sold rusks in Turku, carrying them to the city in a basket on his back. Korppu-Vihtori was known for his affection for children. Every May Day,…
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Hämeenkatu 6
A kindly elderly woman with a cat nestled in the folds of her skirt greets passers-by outside an office on Hämeenkatu street. Viljo Mäkinen, who studied and lived in Turku, often depicted ordinary people rather than prominent public figures. Humour and warmly and affectionately portrayed people and …
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Samppalinnanmäki
The work is an obelisk carved from Finnish granite and decorated with a bronze lion, Finland’s national emblem. An obelisk is traditionally a four-sided stone pillar that tapers towards the top and is carved from a single block of stone. Obelisks may reach a height of several dozen metres and were e…
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Itäinen Pitkäkatu 45
Simo Helenius’s concrete sculpture Diligent Bookworms depicts child figures crawling through a large book in front of the school Samppalinnan koulu. The book is considerably larger than the children, alluding to the imaginative possibilities offered by books and their ability to draw readers entirel…
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Fuugan edusta
The upward-reaching Torch is a fountain sculpture enhanced by water and lighting effects. It consists of three upright, wing-like elements. Installed in Independence Square, the work symbolises the torch of independence for the artist, with jets of water forming its flames. In addition to the politi…
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Puutarhakatu 34
The Boys from Portsa depicts two grammar-school boys from the early 20th century. The boys are shown in full motion, running forwards. The work celebrates the Port Arthur district, one of Turku’s best-preserved wooden-house neighbourhoods and now a protected area of cultural and historical significa…
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Tuomiokirkonpuisto
Adolf Ivar Arwidsson (1791–1858) worked to awaken and develop a sense of national identity in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in the early 19th century. Alongside Elias Lönnrot, he was one of the most important collectors and researchers of Finnish folk poetry. Sculptor Harry Kivijärvi’s grani…
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Aunelan koulun piha
In sculptor Simo Helenius’s work Curious, a male bronze figure appears to be disappearing head first into the ground, as though diving into a well. The work was previously entitled In Despair. Like Curious, the original title can be interpreted as a darkly humorous reference to the all-consuming nat…
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Aninkaistenkatu 7
In 1968, the sculpture Welders was installed on the slope outside vocational school Turun teknillinen ammattioppilaitos. The work reflects the school’s field of education at the time through the silhouette of a copper figure engrossed in welding. The work’s theme is expressed not only through its su…
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Puolalanpuisto
The sculpture celebrates the friendship between Turku and Leningrad, now St Petersburg. St Petersburg is Turku’s oldest twin city, and the twinning relationship was established in 1953. In the work, four highly stylised bronze human figures greet and embrace one another in a warm and intimate circle…
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Tuomaanpuisto
When the Pori Regiment Guild acquired Niilo Savia’s bronze sculpture Drummers following the relocation of the Pori Brigade from Turku to Säkylä, it was installed in Turku’s former barracks area as a reminder of the regiment’s traditions and the soundscape that once characterised the site. Turku’s ci…
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Kuhanpuisto
Turku-born sculptor Harry Kivijärvi’s lead sculpture Theme was erected in Kaistarniemi, close to his childhood home and in the landscapes where he spent his youth. This modernist work honours the memory of the Turku-born, internationally significant sculptor while enriching the Kaistarniemi resident…
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Kupittaanpuisto
Sculptor Jussi Vikainen’s granite sculpture Summa War Memorial was erected in memory of the battles of the Winter War during a period of generational change, when political engagement was active and several war memorials were erected in Turku’s cityscape. Fierce battles that proved decisive for the …
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Tuomiokirkonpuisto
The sculpture Up Into the Sacred Dizzying Heights depicts a pair of swans taking flight. Its title is taken from Aleksis Kivi’s novel Seven Brothers. As the artist was living in Sweden when the work was created, it can be interpreted as referring not only to the search for inner peace after the war,…
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Vartiovuorenpuisto
The portrait herm depicting Jäger Colonel Heikki Nurmio (1887–1947) was erected in memory of the man who wrote the words to Jean Sibelius’s Jäger March and described his experiences on the German Eastern Front during the First World War in his work Jääkärin päiväkirja (Diary of a jäger). Herms origi…
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Borenpuisto
Raimo Utriainen’s bronze sculpture Icy Sea is a memorial to winter navigation. The work stands beside the River Aura near the Port of Turku, where merchant and cargo vessels have operated for centuries. In the sculpture, two powerful seafarers with angular facial features stand on an element resembl…
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Yliopistonkatu 29
Anja Aho’s bronze sculpture The Children stands beside a fountain along the pedestrian street Yliopistonkatu, reminding passers-by of childhood games in the water. The three child figures kneel beside the fountain. Their simplified forms are indistinct and dreamlike, like memories of childhood. The …
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Mannerheiminpuisto
This bronze portrait is a study created by sculptor Veikko Leppänen in 1959 for the equestrian statue of C. G. E. Mannerheim in Helsinki. Architect Aarne Ehojoki designed the granite pedestal and stone steps. The statue was unveiled on 4 August 1994, 50 years after Parliament elected C. G. E. Manner…
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Puolalanpuisto
Sculptor Jussi Mäntynen’s long-necked birds, including swans and cranes, are among the artist’s decorative animal sculptures. The fountain sculpture The Swans depicts three birds taking flight. In both its composition and sculptural expression, the work is lighter and airier than many of the large m…
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Kraatarinkatu
In sculptor Kauko Räsänen’s work, a nude woman runs across the lawn as though she were the wind itself. The sculpture, made of polished bronze, has a realistic visual language. At the same time, the figure’s rigid posture and expressionless face suggest a supernatural presence, far removed from a pu…
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Rehtorinpellonkatu 3
Sculptor and professor Jussi Mäntynen, who also worked as a conservator, was highly familiar with animal anatomy and behaviour, as well as with their presentation in the three-dimensional settings known as dioramas in natural history museums. Such compositions often use the drama of natural events a…
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Rautatientori
The sculpture Aino was inspired by the character of Aino in Finland’s national epic, the Kalevala. Faced with the prospect of being forced into an unwanted marriage, Aino chose to drown herself and, according to the story, was transformed into a fish. In keeping with the ideals of antiquity, the nud…
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TYKS Mäntymäen sairaala
The artist and professor Jussi Mäntynen originally donated this work to the City of Turku as a plaster sculpture. It was later cast in bronze and transformed into a fountain sculpture depicting three cranes and installed in front of the then city hospital. Captured in dramatic movement, the cranes p…
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Itäinen Rantakatu 14
Wäinö Aaltonen was the foremost sculptor during the early years of Finnish independence. In addition to creating many other nationally significant works of public art, he was commissioned during the National Romantic era to produce a portrait of Aleksis Kivi, regarded as the father of Finnish litera…
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Ystävyyspuisto
Gothenburg has been Turku’s twin city since 1946 and had previously served as the city’s sponsor city. Turku expressed its gratitude to its twin city by donating Wäinö Aaltonen’s sculpture When a Friendship is Forged. A twin version of the work stands in Puutori Square in Turku. Aaltonen’s daughter,…
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Puolalanpuisto
Sculptor and professor Jussi Mäntynen depicted long-necked birds, particularly cranes and swans, during the later part of his career, when he was living in Sweden. The migratory birds reaching towards the sky can be interpreted as symbols of homesickness, post-war grief and the search for inner peac…
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Tuomiokirkkokatu 2
The memorial depicts Turku-born writer and poet Josef Julius Wecksell (1838–1907), whose best-known work is the play Daniel Hjort, set at Turku Castle during the Cudgel War. His literary career was cut short at an early age because of mental illness. In the sculpture, the writer leans against a bloc…
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Brahenpuisto
Artist Bruno Aspelin’s work offers a window onto 18th-century Turku. The sculpture, which depicts Turku Cathedral and its surroundings, stands on the very site it portrays, in the park between the cathedral and Uudenmaankatu street. Turku Cathedral formed the centre of the city in the 18th century. …
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WAM ulkoterassi
Wäinö Aaltonen’s sculpture Tempest is a twin version of a grave monument in Pori, erected in memory of those who died in the sinking of the torpedo boat S2 53. The torpedo boat sank during a storm in the Bothnian Sea in 1925. The sculpture commemorating the event expresses the despair experienced by…
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WAM ulkoterassi
Wäinö Aaltonen’s sculpture Future is one of the twin casts of the works in the series Work and the Future in the plenary chamber of the Parliament Building. Together with Intellectual Work and Settler, Future has stood on the terrace in front of WAM Museum of Contemporary Art since 1978. The only fe…
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WAM ulkoterassi
During his lifetime, sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen completed several public sculpture commissions of major national significance. These include the five sculptures created following a competition and installed in the plenary chamber of the Parliament Building. The figures in the series Work and the Future…
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WAM ulkoterassi
During his lifetime, sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen completed several public sculpture commissions of major national significance. These include the five sculptures in the plenary chamber of the Parliament Building, which were created following a competition. The figures in the series Work and the Future s…
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Vanha Kakskerrantie 32
Juhani Pallasmaa’s work Traces of Memory was erected to commemorate the centenary of Wäinö Aaltonen’s birth. The memorial’s steel structure marks the location of a studio that once stood beside Aaltonen’s childhood home but no longer survives. The memorial incorporates a bronze cast of Aaltonen’s fe…
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Runebergin puisto
Wäinö Aaltonen’s (1894–1966) Lily of Turku, located in the park Runebergin puisto beside the Aura Bridge, was the first public sculpture purchased by the City of Turku for its own collection. This modernist sculpture was Aaltonen’s third monumental work. It was carved in granite at J. E. Forsman’s s…
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Puolalanpuisto
Victor Westerholm was the first curator of Turku Art Museum and the director of the Turku Drawing School, where Wäinö Aaltonen studied painting from 1910 to 1915. In 1927, Aaltonen created a portrait herm of his teacher, who played an important role in the history of the school. The sculpture was pl…
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Puolalanpuisto
R. W. Ekman (1808–1873) was one of Finland’s most prominent painters of the 1850s. His best-known works include the wall and ceiling paintings in the chancel of Turku Cathedral. The word ‘herm’ refers to the Greek god Hermes, who served as the messenger of the gods. In art history, a herm is a sculp…
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Itäisen Rantakadun ja Kaskenkadun risteys
Paavo Nurmi (1897–1973), who won nine Olympic gold medals, and Wäinö Aaltonen are both honoured as nationally significant historical figures. The statue of the runner Paavo Nurmi was the first public sculpture commissioned in independent Finland. The athlete is depicted nude in accordance with the i…
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Vähätori
Planning for the fountain sculpture, financed with funds bequeathed by industrialist and patron Gustav Albert Petrelius, began before Finland gained independence, but the war delayed the project’s completion. The subject of the commissioned work, designed by Gunnar Finne and Armas Lindgren, was adap…
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Turun tuomiokirkko
The sculpture depicts Saint George, a central figure in Christian artistic tradition, together with the dragon he has defeated. Beside Turku Cathedral stands a memorial marking the grave of the Whites from the Finnish Civil War of 1918. The reverse of the work features a relief of Turku’s coat of ar…
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Kupittaanpuisto
According to sculptor and professor Jussi Mäntynen, his best-known work, Stag Elk, was based on the mythical Elk of Hiisi in the Kalevala. Mäntynen repeatedly emphasised the animal’s importance to him, both as a particularly significant source of experiences of nature and as an artistic subject. Cre…
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Samppalinnanmäki
The memorial, created by Felix Nylund, was erected as an expression of gratitude to commercial counsellor Gustav Albert Petrelius for his donations to the City of Turku and for the funds he bequeathed for charitable purposes. The development of public services and charitable work were among the valu…
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Nummenpuistokatu 2
Into Saxelin’s relief Children at Play depicts different areas of culture and economic life through allegory. The ten child figures, depicted in pairs, represent art, hunting and agriculture, trade and handicrafts, and fishing and seafaring. The children hold symbols representing their respective th…
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Brahenpuisto
Governor-General of Finland Per Brahe (1602–1680) arrived at Turku Castle in 1637, marking the beginning of the period known as the Count’s Era, which became renowned for its good governance. Among other achievements, the period saw the establishment of the Royal Academy of Turku and several new tow…
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Eskelinkatu 5
Pharmacist and commercial counsellor Erik Julin (1796–1874) was a pioneer of firefighting and the founder of the Turku Volunteer Fire Brigade. Designed by Walter Runeberg as early as 1873, the sculpture was installed in Turku’s cityscape 75 years later to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Tur…
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Porthaninpuisto
Henrik Gabriel Porthan (1739–1804) was a distinguished scholar who promoted Finnish national consciousness and was a leading authority on Finland’s history, culture and geography. The monument created in his honour by artist Carl Eneas Sjöstrand during the period of Russian rule was Finland’s first …
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