Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Maritime Monument: Seafarers Memorial - Helsinki, Finland

Seafarers Memorial
Helsinki, Finland


GPS: N 60° 09.245 E 024° 56.305

Short Description:

The Seafarers Memorial is located near the beach in the Eira , Ursin Cliff section of Helsinki, Finland.



Long Description:

The monument honors all seafarers who perished in the sea. The concrete monument was designed by Oskari Jauhiainen and Eero Eerikäinen  and installed near the beach in 1968.  The monument suggests a lighthouse with an eternal flame at the top. Amid the concrete columns is a bronze sculpture of an eight point compass rose. North is indicated by a hash mark bisecting the north compass point, which is much longer than the other seven points. Inscribed on the compass rose in Swedish and Finnish the text "Finnish seafarers" and the date in Roman numerals MCMLXVIII (1968).


The monument is now a memorial to drowned sailors.  Each year, All Saints' Day the Finnish Seamen's Mission holds a memorial service. Rescue boats gather to visit of the monument. A commemorative plaque  pays tribute the freighter MS Malmi which sunk in the Baltic Sea on December 7, 1979. It lists the names of the of those who drowned. The text translates to: In the memory of those buried at sea.

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