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All Finland Helsinki Pohjola Insurance Building

Pohjola Insurance Building

This insurance company building reminds customers that witches, bears, and gnomes are out there, best be insured.

Helsinki, Finland

Added By
Michelle Enemark
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Entrance to the Building   Michelle Enemark
Entrance to the Building   Michelle Enemark
Pohjola   Michelle Enemark
Thoughtful Guards   Michelle Enemark
Faces from Finnish Folktale   Michelle Enemark
Dopey Face   Michelle Enemark
Bear Face   Michelle Enemark
Fantastic Spiral Staircase   Michelle Enemark
Dragon (?) Face Adornment   Michelle Enemark
Rotunda of Fairytale Doors   Michelle Enemark
Detail   A secret club / Atlas Obscura User
Pohjola Insurance Building   Jaszmina Szendrey / Atlas Obscura User
Three Blackbird Stained Window   Michelle Enemark
Spiral Staircase   Michelle Enemark
Carved Interior Lamp Post   Michelle Enemark
Carving (Tired Gnome?)   Michelle Enemark
Spiral Staircase Topped by Stained Glass   Michelle Enemark
Dramatic Staircase Entrance   Michelle Enemark
Front Door   Michelle Enemark
Squirrel Detail   Michelle Enemark
  tylercole / Atlas Obscura User
detail   A secret club / Atlas Obscura User
Witches over the Elevator Door   Michelle Enemark
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About

Helsinki's Pohjola Insurance building is covered in gargoyles and grotesques taken straight from Finnish folklore and legend. 

Built in 1901 by architect Eliel Saarinen, every molding, windowsill, and doorway on the exterior of the building is adorned with a carved stone beast. The term "Pohjola" refers to a mythic land from the Finnish epic the Kalevala in which the Northern region of Pohjola was ruled by an evil witch. It was also believed that the roots of the World Tree could be found in Pohjola, which may explain the many reliefs of trees and squirrels across the building's facade. More broadly the word refers to any northerly direction. Given its mythological namesake, it's no surprise that the Pohjola Insurance company agreed to adorn their building with lasting statues of monsters, fools, animals, and nature. 

Some office buildings are content to create a front of efficiency and bland production, but leave it to the Finnish with their rich history and mythic traditions to make an insurance building seem legendary. 

Related Tags

Architecture Fairytales Statues Architectural Oddities Sculptures

Community Contributors

Added By

michelle

Edited By

hrnick, Jaszmina Szendrey, tylercole, A secret club

  • hrnick
  • Jaszmina Szendrey
  • tylercole
  • A secret club

Published

October 20, 2013

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Sources
  • http://beautifulhelsinki.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/the-wonderful-pohjola-building/
  • http://looky.wordpress.com/2007/06/17/the-pohjola-insurance-building-helsinki/
  • http://looky.wordpress.com/pohjola-building/
Pohjola Insurance Building
44 Aleksanterinkatu
Helsinki, 00100
Finland
60.16876, 24.945831
Get Directions

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Helsinki

Helsinki

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Places 27
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Photo of Helsinki

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