Helsinki Cathedral

Helsinki Cathedral is the iconic white neoclassical building on Senate Square - the defining image of the Finnish capital. Carl Ludwig Engel, a Berlin-trained architect in the service of the Russian tsar, designed the building from 1818 as part of a complete government quarter that Helsinki received after becoming capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812. Engel did not live to see completion in 1852 - the four small corner cupolas and the zinc statues of the twelve apostles that now define its silhouette were added after his death. Inside, the cathedral is strikingly empty and plain in Protestant style. On sunny days hundreds of people sit on the broad front staircase as if in a grandstand, looking out over Senate Square - Helsinki's open-air living room.