''Rumba'' is a sculpture by sculptor Martti Aiha, located on the Porkkalankatu street in the district of Salmisaari in

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 Bo ...

. Aiha thinks the sculpture is one of his best. ''Rumba'' is made of black-painted

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in AmE, American and CanE, Canadian English) is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately o ...

and is 15 metres tall. The sculpture belongs to the collection of the Helsinki Art Museum.Rumba
Helsinki Art Museum. Accessed on 20 September 2020. In 1994 Rumba was awarded as the environmental artwork of the year. The prize was awarded for a collection the sculpture forms in connection with a residential building designed by Veli-Pekka Tuominen.

Background

In 1990, in preparation for its 60th anniversary the state alcohol monopoly company

Alko Alko Inc is the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland. It is the only store in the country which retails beer over 5.5% ABV, wine (except in vineyards) and spirits. Alcoholic beverages are also sold in licensed restaurants ...

decided to host an artwork competition. The winning artwork would be donated to the city of Helsinki and located near the Alko head office in Salmisaari. The contest was won by Martti Aiha and his sculpture ''Rumba'' was revealed on 5 April 1992. Martti Aiha thought of many things when designing the sculpture. He knew that the sculpture would be passed by much traffic, so he wanted a sculpture that could be seen in its entirety even when quickly passing by it on a

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

. He chose black as the colour for the sculpture as he thought it was the only colour that fits in the surroundings. The name ''Rumba'' is based on the

rumba The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba. ...

music style and the traffic that "dances the rumba" past the sculpture.

Movement to temporary storage in 2020

''Rumba'' was moved to temporary storage in August 2020. The movement was based on the construction of the office building We Land by the construction company NCC. "In order to safely transport the sculpture it will first have to be dismantled. Crane machinery will be used in the dismantling, and the sculpture will be fenced off to ensure safe working conditions", said NCC project manager Timo Henno. The sculpture will be later returned to its place.Vehkasalo, Jussi
Samassa paikassa liki 30 vuotta nököttänyt vinkeä veistos puretaan ja viedään varastoon Helsingissä
''

Helsingin Uutiset ''Helsingin Uutiset'' () is a free newspaper that has been published in Helsinki, Finland since the early 2020 as six different local editions twice a week, on Wednesdays and weekends. The newspaper has a total of 350 thousand readers.

'' 19 August 2020. Accessed on 20 September 2020.

References

{{Coord, 60, 9, 47.52, N, 24, 54, 17.64, E, display=title Outdoor sculptures in Helsinki Ruoholahti