Smolna, Helsinki

The Smolna was completed in 1822 as the house of the inspector general of the Military of the Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1833 it was turned into the residence of the Governor-General of Finland. During the 1918 Finnish Civil War, the house served as the Red Guard headquarters and was nicknamed ″Smolna″, after the Bolshevik headquarters in the Smolny Institute of Saint Petersburg.^[2]

After the Civil War, the nickname remained. The building was first the residence of the German general Rüdiger von der Goltz and the regent of Finland C. G. E. Mannerheim until 1919. The building was then used by the government for various purposes, including as the residence of the foreign minister, before being renovated in 1964 to serve as a banquet hall for the Finnish Government.

Media related to Smolna, Helsinki at Wikimedia Commons

• Johanna Luhtala & Markus Manninen: Smolna – valtioneuvoston juhlahuoneisto. Rakennushistoriaselvitys. (in Finnish)

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