The Turku barracks was a

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

building for the military of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

built in 1833 in

Kamppi Kamppi () is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in the centre of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name originally referred to a small area known as the "Kamppi field" (see below), but according to the current official d ...

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, ...

, along the street Läntinen Henrikinkatu (now known as

Mannerheimintie Mannerheimintie () (previously known as ''Henrikinkatu'', ''Läntinen ja Itäinen Henrikinkatu'', ''Läntinen ja Itäinen Heikinkatu'', ''Turuntie'', ''Läntinen viertotie'', ''Heikinkatu''), colloquially known as Mansku, named after the Finni ...

Before construction

The Kamppi area had already been used under Swedish rule as a camping and practice area for the military, known as ''Campementsplats'', where the name Kamppi comes from.Kaija Ollila, Kirsti Toppari: ''Puhvelista Punatulkkuun, Helsingin vanhoja kortteleita'', pp. 208–209. 8th edition. Sanoma Oy, 1998. . The area was later used by the Finnish Guard until it was taken into use by the Russian military settled in Helsinki.

Construction

The Turku barracks was constructed from 1830 to 1833 at the site of the current Lasipalatsi building, which was at the edge of the city proper at the time, near the

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

toll station, which was the start of a highway leading to

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

. Before that, the Russian military in Helsinki had been mainly stationed in the Merikasarmi building in

Katajanokka Katajanokka (; ) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland, with around 4000 inhabitants in 2005. The district is located adjacent to the immediate downtown area, though in the first major town plan for Helsinki from the mid-18th century, the area ...

, which then was transferred to the use of the navy of the Military of the Grand Duchy of Finland.Lasipalatsikortteli History
Lasipalatsi. Accessed on 24 January 2024. The original plans for the barracks were made by

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840) was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ce ...

, but it was built on a commission from Nikolai Sinebrychoff.Kampin kasvot kautta aikojen
City Museum of Helsinki. Accessed on 12 April 2012. A number of side buildings were built on the west and southwest sides of the main building, and a large exercise field was built between them, at the site of the current

Narinkka Narinkka or Narinkkatori ( Swedish: ''Narinken'') is a square in Kamppi, Helsinki, Finland. It is surrounded by the Kamppi Center to the west, the former financial building of the Turku barracks to the east and the Scandic Hotels hotel Simonke ...

square.

Destruction and subsequent use

During the

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 ...

, in connection of the conquest of Helsinki on 12 April 1918, the Turku barracks caught fire and was almost completely destroyed. It was not rebuilt, but instead dismantling started the next year, even though some of the ruins remained up to the 1930s. The barracks' former exercise field was used as a

sports field A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in Australian, American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For mo ...

and a skating rink during the 1930s. The remaining side buildings near the barracks were in use by the Finnish Defence Forces in the 1920s, housing the Uusimaa Dragoon Regiment, the command company and the Field Artillery Regiment 1.Asmo Alho, Uljas Rauanheimo: ''Helsinki ennen meitä, Vanhojen kuvien kertomaa.'' Otava, 1962. The Finnish state donated the Turku barracks to the city of Helsinki in an exchange in 1934. The next year, after it had been destroyed, the Lasipalatsi building, originally intended as a temporary building, was built in its place. Some of the last buildings in the complex were demolished as late as the 1950s. Nowadays, only the auxiliary building west of the main building remains. Up to the completion of the

Kamppi Center Kamppi Centre (, ) is a complex in the Kamppi district in the centre of Helsinki, Finland, designed by various architects, the main designer, however, being Juhani Pallasmaa. It is said to be Helsinki's new downtown commercial and residential ...

in 2005 this building served as Helsinki's main

bus station A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can st ...

, after which it was in use as the City of Helsinki planning office's exhibition space called Laituri, which operated in the building until 2018. The entire building was gutted in 2021, retaining only the outer walls, in order to build the Culture Barracks, which opened in November 2023. Following the remodelling, designed by Sarc Architects, the building houses three cinema auditoriums (all underground), as well as various restaurants, an outdoor terrace and an events space. The west side of the building has been supplemented with a wide glazed extension.

References

External links

Häviävää Helsinkiä - Turun kasarmin raunioita hajoitetaan
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Suomen Kuvalehti ''Suomen Kuvalehti'' ( or 'the Finnish picture magazine') is a weekly Finnish language family and news magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''Suomen Kuvalehti'' was founded in 1873 and published until the year 1880. The m ...

'' 22 February 1919, issue #8, p. 15, Digital archives of the Finnish National Library {{Coord, 60, 10, 11.72, N, 24, 56, 8.41, E, display=title Former buildings and structures in Finland Buildings and structures in Helsinki Military history of Helsinki Helsinki in the Finnish Civil War