Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland

The story of Olympic Stadium began in 1927, when City of Helsinki and several sport associations created the Stadium Foundation. The purpose of foundation was to build an adequate venue for the summer olympics. Construction of the Olympic Stadium began in 1934 and it was completed in 1938. It was designed in functionalistic style by the architects Yrjö Lindegren and Toivo Jäntti.

The stadium was built to host the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were moved from Tokyo to Helsinki before being cancelled due to World War II. After 12 years delay the XVth Olympic Games were finally held in Helsinki Olympic Stadium in 1952. The stadium was also the venue for the first World Athletics Championships in 1983 as well as for the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. It is also the home stadium of the Finland national football team.

Olympic Stadium is still in active use. The National Sports Museum is also situated to the stadium and the 72 meters high tower is popular place to see the nice view over the downtown of Helsinki.

User Reviews

Pasi Miettinen (4 months ago)
More of a museum than place for crowded conserts. Long lines for everything and the old architecture doesn't help solving that problem.

Nathan Scott (5 months ago)
Rammstein. All in all, it was a fairly small stadium for an Olympic stadium, but it got the job done. Being an Australian, it was a surprise to see that we weren't allowed to take alcoholic drinks in to the actual arena area. Food selection at this event was lacking somewhat... I ended up have Shrimp Skagen.... It was pretty good.

Yijie Xu (5 months ago)
Visited during the Rammstein world tour. The stadium is large and relatively modern, with numerous bathroom and food and beverage facilities spaced out intermittently. Make sure to walk on further to find free toilets. Space is able to host everything from concerts to football matches, with inner indoor facilities open for booking as well. Note that due to the lack of actual kitchen space food services tend to be spartan and poor, so eat something before your gig. You'll find beverages, alcoholic and non-alc, to be freely available.

Daniel Šilha (8 months ago)
Great view and lovely stuf at the reception. Don’t be shy and definitly go there! You won’t get higher than that in Helsinky.

Dnyaneshwar Suryawanshi (14 months ago)
The stadium is awesome. But I wasn't allowed my water bottle to be taken inside. So I had to throw that outside

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Photo from Flickr, copyright joiseyshowaa

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick.

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