The University of Helsinki metro station ( fi, Helsingin yliopiston metroasema, sv, Helsingfors universitets metrostation) is a station on the

Helsinki Metro The Helsinki Metro ( fi, Helsingin metro, sv, Helsingfors metro) is a rapid transit system serving Greater Helsinki, Finland. It is the world's northernmost metro system. It was opened to the general public on 2 August 1982 after 27 years of ...

. It serves the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the R ...

and surrounding areas in the central

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

districts

Kaisaniemi Kaisaniemi ( sv, Kajsaniemi) is a part of the centre of Helsinki, Finland. It is located immediately north of the Helsinki Central railway station and south of Hakaniemi. The most famous part of Kaisaniemi is the Kaisaniemi park, a park coverin ...

and

Kluuvi Kluuvi (; sv, Gloet) is the commercial centre of Helsinki, Finland, and a neighbourhood in the Vironniemi district of Helsinki. The Helsinki Central railway station, Hotel Kämp and Hotel Arthur, the Helsinki main post office, the Stockmann an ...

. From 1995 to 2015, the station's name was Kaisaniemi. The station is 27 metres below ground level and 22 metres below

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

. It is positioned 600 metres east of the Central Railway Station and 900 metres south of

Hakaniemi Hakaniemi (; sv, Hagnäs) is an unofficial district of Helsinki, the Finnish capital. It covers most of the neighbourhood of Siltasaari in the district of Kallio. Hakaniemi is located at the sea shore and is separated from the city centre by th ...

. Both lines M1 and M2 serve the station.

History

The location of the metro station was decided in 1971, and the station box was excavated during the metro's original construction work in the late 1970s. The station's opening date was postponed due to a lack of funds. The station was eventually opened on the 1st of March 1995, having been designed by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

firm ''Kontio - Kilpi - Valjento Oy''. The station is equipped with a glass-sided

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ...

-style

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They ...

, operating along the slope parallel to the

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

Renaming

In April 2014, the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...

voted to rename the station from ''Kaisaniemi'' to ''University of Helsinki''. The rebranding was completed in January 2015 to commemorate the university's 375th anniversary. This metro station is one of two comprising the system to be named after a university; the other one is

Aalto University Aalto University ( fi, Aalto-yliopisto; sv, Aalto-universitetet) is a public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the ...

References

External links

{{Public transport in Helsinki Helsinki Metro stations located underground Railway stations opened in 1995 1995 establishments in Finland Kluuvi