Out and about in Helsinki

"The dream of Helsinki was born in around 1550, when the Swedish King Gustav Vasa was inspired to found a city on the Gulf of FInland's northern coast to in order to catch up with Russia's expansion of the Baltic trade routes. 
In 1808, during the Russian occupation, the entire place was levelled by fire. Plans for the city's reconstruction only began in 1817, but the city would have been nothing without the ideas and inspiration of Carl Ludwig Engel. Engel based his city planning directly on St Petersburg, and with materials no more eminent than brick and wood he built a capital that was remarkably Hellenic in feel. 
Towards the end of the nineteenth centaur, vast swathes of the city were rebuilt and expanded in forward looking Art Nouveau and Jungend styles. Later, the influence of national romanticism was made manifest by a trio of locally born architects - Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Elliel Saarinen, whose approach formed the basis of the work of the mastermind designer Alvar Aalto. Alto of course brought worldwide fame to Finland through his architecture, in addition to a small number of memorable building to Helsinki. More importantly, he moved a generation of (or three) of architects to to look in their backyards for inspiration, seeking construction based around organic forms and utilising natural materials - ideas which have brought Helsinki well into the modern world."

The Rough Guide to Finland