Vanha Ylioppilastalo
Encyclopedia
Student Union of the University of Helsinki
The Student Union of the University of Helsinki was founded in 1868. It currently has 32,000 members and is one of the world's richest student organizations, with assets of several hundred million euros. Among other things, it owns a good deal of property in the city centre of Helsinki...
, located in central Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, near the crossing of Aleksanterinkatu
Aleksanterinkatu
Aleksanterinkatu is a street in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. In the city plan by Carl Ludvig Engel, it was the Decumanus Maximus, the main east-west street in the city, crossing the Cardo, Unioninkatu at the corner of the Senate Square.The street begins near the Presidential Palace and...
and Mannerheimintie
Mannerheimintie
Mannerheimintie , or Mannerheimvägen , named after the Finnish military leader and statesman Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, is one of the most famous streets in Helsinki, Finland. It was originally named Heikinkatu , after Robert Henrik Rehbinder, but was renamed after the Winter War...
.
The building was designed by Axel Hampus Dahlström and was completed in 1870. It represents the neo-renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
style of architecture.
The student house was originally built at the edge of the city centre, so the students' parties would not disturb other citizens. The construction was funded by a collection from the citizens. In dedication of this collection, the façade of the building bears the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
inscription Spei suae patria dedit ("Donated by the country to its hopes"). Nowadays, the student house is located in the inner centre of Helsinki, near the Three smiths statue
Three smiths statue
The Three Smiths Statue is a sculpture by Felix Nylund, situated in Helsinki in Three Smiths Square at the intersection of Aleksanterinkatu and Mannerheimintie. This realistic statue, unveiled in 1932, depicts three smiths hammering on an anvil...
.
Near the student house is located the newer Uusi Ylioppilastalo
Uusi Ylioppilastalo
Uusi Ylioppilastalo , colloquially Uusi , originally named Osakuntatalo , is the current student house of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki, located in central Helsinki, Finland, at Mannerheimintie 5, right next to Vanha Ylioppilastalo...
(The New Student House), completed in 1910. At that point Vanha Ylioppilastalo got its current name. In 1938 there was a discussion about whether Vanha Ylioppilastalo should be dismantled to give place for a new business house.
1968 occupation
On November 25th, 1968, one day prior to the Student Union's centennial celebration, a large group of students occupied the Old Student House which was designated as the location of the festivities. The action was in protest at what they saw as a 1950s1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
style "white tie party", and an uprising against the values which this stood for. The group entered by breaking in through a French window at 5:13pm local time. The happenings immediately made nation-wide headlines. The action has been seen as being inspired by the May 1968 unrest in France, and other political movements around Europe in the same year, including the Spring of Prague. In 2008, Laura Kolbe, a professor of European history at the University of Helsinki, described the Vanha occupation as "the ripples of the European student movement in Finland".
The dissidents' main demands concerned democratic reforms to the university's administration. However, some of the participants also demanded the founding of Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
study-circles in the departments and faculties, abolishing compulsory membership of the Student Union and changing the political alignment of the monthly student magazine Ylioppilaslehti. Banners carrying these proclamations were hung from the Student House's balcony and speeches were made. However, not all of the youth involved were communists; people aligned with the Center Party participated as well.
The Student Union relocated its 100th year celebration to the Sibelius Academy
Sibelius Academy
The Sibelius Academy is a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki. The Academy is the only music university in Finland. It is among the biggest European music universities...
, and the The "Vanha occupation" ended relatively short-lived. After having spent the night at the Student House, people began to dissipate the next day. By the evening the remaining occupants had cleaned up after themselves and left the building altogether. Helsinki's Swedish-language newspaper HBL
Hufvudstadsbladet
Hufvudstadsbladet is the highest-circulation Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Its headquarters are located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name of the newspaper translates approximately into "The Capital City Newspaper", hufvudstad being 19th century Swedish for capital...
wrote "people became tired and went home after having stayed up for a day, sat on the floor, drank red wine and kissed".
The generation of students and other young radicals who participated in the events have underlined the significance of the occupation as a symbolic revolt against the values of the previous generation. Indeed, many of the people involved became leading figures in Finnish politics and the financial sector, including the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Finland
The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...
politicians Erkki Tuomioja
Erkki Tuomioja
Erkki Sakari Tuomioja is the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs. He is currently a member of the Finnish Parliament.Tuomioja is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, although his political views are thought to be more to the left than the party line. He is also a member of ATTAC...
, Ilkka Taipale and Ulf Sundqvist
Ulf Sundqvist
Ulf Sundqvist is a former chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, a minister in four cabinets in 1970s and a banker in 1980s....
, bank manager Björn Wahlroos
Björn Wahlroos
Björn Arne Christer Wahlroos is the Chairman of the Board in Sampo Group, Nordea and UPM-Kymmene. Wahlroos’s nickname is "Nalle", which means "teddy bear" in Finnish and Swedish.- Career :...
and diplomat Markus Lyra. However, 40 years after the events, only 36% of the Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. In 2008, its daily circulation was 412,421 on weekdays and 468,505 on Sundays...
board of selected Finnish intellectuals believed the events had any positive effect on the Finnish society.