Helsinki School of Economics bas-reliefs

From the south, Sammonpuistikko Park borders the complex of buildings of the School of Economics (Aalto-yliopiston kauppakorkeakoulu) and if you have a minute of free time, I recommend looking at it. The school was opened in 1904 and received the status of a university in 1911. This is the main educational institution in Finland that trains specialists in the field of business. In 1950, a new building was built, designed by Woldemar Baeckmanin and Hugo Harmian.

The facade of the building is decorated with keramic bas-reliefs with a typical Scandinavian theme. The images glorify the man of labor and the friendship of peoples. The author of the bas-reliefs is the famous Finnish sculptor and ceramic artist Mikhail Shilkin. His biography also deserves attention. Mikhail was born in 1900 in a poor peasant family in the Tver region of Russia. He was fond of clay modeling since childhood, but he had to earn a living in different ways, from a farmhand to a railway employee. Another hobby was sailing, and he played a decisive role in the fate of the artist. In 1921, the ship of the sailing club, on which he sailed on Lake Ladoga, accidentally turned up in Finnish waters, where it was detained by border guards. Soon the yachtsmens were allowed to go home, but Mikhail decided to stay and asked for refugee status. After finding a job on a farm in Mikkeli, he simultaneously studied at the Higher School of Industrial Design. He became famous by participating in exhibitions of art society in Helsinki, and was invited to work in an art studio at the ceramics and porcelain factory Arabia.

In front of the main entrance there is a fountain decorated with a bronze sculpture of Liikevoitto, which literally translates as "profit", in the sense of "a successful catch". The author of the sculpture Aimo Tukainen (Aimo Tukiaisen) presented it to the competition in 1954.