Daily Archives: 11/01/2020

Tuesday 7th January 2020 The rain and warmer temperatures had cleared the pavements of snow and ice so that it was much easier to walk about, but unfortunately the warm air had also brought with it a low mist. We were therefore pleased that we had been able to take a photo of the outside of the Uspenski Eastern Orthodox Cathedral in better light the day before [below left]. Built between 1862 and 1868, it has an imposing position on a hillside on the Katajanokka peninsula close to the water. It is apparently usually closed on Mondays so this may not have been attributable to the public holiday yesterday. Looking back from Helsinki Cathedral many of the older buildings are in warm shades of yellow and ochre with just a hint of pink. The Cathedral itself was built between 1830 and 1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and prior to Finnish Independence in 1917 it was also known as St Nicholas’ Church. The green domes with golden stars are particularly striking. The Lutheran interior seems rather minimalist compared to the decorations in the Uspenski Cathedral, but it is still beautiful. Apparently […]