What does Helsinki have to offer visitors interested in architecture?
Both architecturally and culturally, Helsinki is an idiosyncratic mix of eastern and western influence.
The main theatres, museums, and concert halls are all centrally located, and many public and commercial buildings manifest outstanding architectural quality.
HELSINKI IS YOUNGER and smaller than most of the other European capitals, and its spacious town plan gives it a horizontal skyline.
There are plenty of parks and squares, and almost everywhere you sense the presence of the sea.
The old centre was built on a narrow promontory, and the modern city has fanned out onto the mainland, where you can detect distinct layers of development in the stylistically unified zones, which alternate like year rings.
The actual city centre is concentrated along Aleksanterinkatu and the main north-south thoroughfare Mannerheimintie.