The Smolna is an

Empire style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 duri ...

building in the

Kaartinkaupunki Kaartinkaupunki (, ) is a neighbourhood in the southern part of Helsinki, Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to ...

district of

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It is used as a banquet hall of the

Cabinet of Finland The Finnish Government (; ; ) is the executive branch and cabinet of Finland, which directs the politics of Finland and is the main source of legislation proposed to the Parliament. The Government has collective ministerial responsibility and ...

and state visit meeting premises of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

History

The Smolna was completed in 1822 as the house of the inspector general of the Military of the Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1835 it was turned into the residence of the

Governor-General of Finland The governor-general of Finland was the military commander and the highest administrator of Finland sporadically Finland under Swedish rule, under Swedish rule in the 17th and 18th centuries and continuously in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finl ...

. During the 1918

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

, the house served as the

Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

headquarters and was nicknamed ″Smolna″, after the Bolshevik headquarters in the

Smolny Institute The Smolny Institute () is a Palladian edifice in Saint Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia, notably as a center of women's education, and the headquarters of the Bolsheviks during the early stages of the October Re ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. After the Civil War, the nickname remained. The building was first the residence of the German general

Rüdiger von der Goltz Gustav Adolf Joachim Rüdiger Graf von der Goltz (8 December 1865 – 4 November 1946) was a German army general during the First World War. He commanded the Baltic Sea Division, which successfully intervened in the Finnish Civil War in the sp ...

and the regent of Finland

C. G. E. Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military commander, aristocrat, and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as Regent of Finland (1918–191 ...

until 1919. It was then used by the government and in 1964 became a banqueting hall of the Cabinet of Finland. Germans in Smolna

References

External links

Johanna Luhtala & Markus Manninen: ''Smolna – valtioneuvoston juhlahuoneisto. Rakennushistoriaselvitys.''
(in Finnish) {{Finland-struct-stub Buildings and structures in Helsinki Carl Ludvig Engel buildings Government buildings in Finland Kaartinkaupunki