Vanhakaupunki ( sv, Gammelstaden) is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural are ...

of the city of

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 ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, to the north of

Toukola Toukola ( sv, Majstad) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland, around 4 km north of the town centre, at the port of Vanhankaupunginlahti. Toukola is part of the administrative region of Vanhakaupunki. The eldest part of the town consist ...

. It is also the name of a district of the city, which contains the neighbourhood and its surroundings. The name (meaning "old town") comes from the fact that Helsinki was originally founded in the Vanhakaupunki area. The

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

name ''Gamla Helsingfors'' (meaning "Old Helsinki") appears in the new Helsinki foundation document from 1639, as the city was moved to its later location, and the forms ''Gamla staden'' or ''Gammelstaden'' came into use after this. The

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

translation of the name only started appearing in the late 19th century. The current names were established as official in 1909. The neighbourhood was named Vanhakaupunki in 1959. Vanhakaupunki vesiputous 2009

History

The Swedish king

Gustav Vasa Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...

founded Helsinki on June 12, 1550 on the mouth of the

Vantaa River The Vantaa ( fi, Vantaanjoki, ) is a long river in Southern Finland. The river starts from the lake in Hausjärvi and flows into the Gulf of Finland at ' in Helsinki. One of the tributaries of the Vantaa river is Keravanjoki that flows throug ...

on the site of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

village of

Forsby Forsby is a locality situated in Gävle Municipality Gävle Municipality (''Gävle kommun'') is a municipality in east central Sweden. The municipal seat is located in the Stad (city) of Gävle. Geographically the municipality is situated no ...

(Finnish: Koskela). The city was to compete with

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

for the commerce in the

Bay of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...

and to reduce the illegal trading done by peasants. The inhabitants from the city were drawn from the cities of Rauma, Ekenäs,

Ulvila Ulvila (; sv, Ulvsby) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is one of the six medieval cities of Finland, as well as the third oldest city in the country. Ulvila was granted charter as a town by King Albert of Sweden on 7 February 1365. How ...

, and

Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...

, which were discontinued. In 1570, a fire broke out in Helsinki in the winter, and in summer, the

black plague The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

spread into the city. The city had about 500 inhabitants at that point. In the 1640s, Helsinki was moved to its current location on the

Vironniemi Vironniemi ( sv, Estnäs; literally the "Cape of Estonia" or the "Estonian Peninsula"harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

conditions, to boost the city commerce. Vanhakaupunki was slowly deserted. Only one map, a small-scale map drawn by Hans Hansson in 1645, remains of the first Helsinki. It depicts the city's location and the layout plan for its later years. The city

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

s appear in the map, but the lots aren't marked. The only building drawn on the map is the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

, which was located west of the north end of the current Vanhankaupungintie road.

Currently

Today, Vanhakaupunki is the name of two different organisational

subdivisions of Helsinki The city of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, can be divided into various sorts of subdivisions. Helsinki is divided into three major areas: Helsinki Downtown ( fi, Helsingin kantakaupunki, sv, Helsingfors innerstad), North Helsinki ( fi, Pohjo ...

. It is a neighbourhood, with an area of 0.32 km² west of the Vanhankaupunginlahti bay. The area has about 230 inhabitants and 850 jobs. Additionally, the Vanhakaupunki district (''Vanhankaupungin peruspiiri'') is a subdivision of the Helsinki central major district, and includes the Vanhakaupunki neighbourhood as well as the neighbourhoods of

Arabianranta Arabianranta (; sv, Arabiastranden; literally meaning the "shore of Arabia"), sometimes simply Arabia, is a residential part of Helsinki, Finland. It is bound by Vanhankaupunginlahti bay from east, and connects to neighboring boroughs of Van ...

Kumpula Kumpula ( sv, Gumtäkt) is a verdant neighbourhood in Helsinki, bordered by Eastern Pasila to the west, Vallila to the south, Käpylä and Koskela to the north and Toukola and Arabianranta to the east. As of January 1, 2003, Kumpula had approxi ...

Käpylä Käpylä (; sv, Kottby) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki with 7,600 inhabitants. Administratively speaking, Käpylä is a part of the Vanhakaupunki district. It is located between Kumpula, Oulunkylä and Koskela. Käpylä has a terminus for ...

, and

Koskela Koskela ( sv, Forsby, lit. "rapids village") is a district in the city of Helsinki, Finland. There are about 3 300 inhabitants. The borough is surrounded by Käpylä, Kumpula, Vanhakaupunki, and Oulunkylä. Koskela is located in the subdivisi ...

. The district has an area of 5.38 km² and about 22000 inhabitants in total.

External links

Vanhankaupungin peruspiiri
{{Coord, 60, 13, N, 24, 59, E, region:FI_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Neighbourhoods of Helsinki