Monument to Jan Sibelius, Helsinki

In a standard sightseeing tour of Helsinki, tourists are usually taken first to Sibelius Park in the district of Taka-Töölö. Here is the most famous sculpture of Finland - Sibelius-monumentti.

Jan Sibelius (1865-1957) was a major Finnish composer, known for his symphonies on folk epic themes. After studying in Berlin and Vienna, the composer's first experience was the music for the symphonic poem Kullervo, created based on the Kalevala.

There is an opinion that Sibelius wrote the music for the Finnish national anthem, and received great popularity among the people for this, but this is not true. His creative activity fell during the years of the national revival of the national consciousness of the Finns who were under the yoke of the Russian Empire, and the works of Sibelius based on Finnish folklore became a symbol of this period.

The monument to the composer in Helsinki was opened in 1967, the year of the tenth anniversary of his death. The sculptor Eila Hiltunen immortalized the memory of the great countryman in the form of a 25-ton structure of six hundred silver pipes arranged in a wave-like pattern - this is how the artist's music looked like Sibelius.

The project caused negative feedback from the creative community, but the monument was still built, but hidden away from the eyes, in a quiet park. Despite this, the monument became widely known and became the most visited tourist object in the Finnish capital.

Sibelius was very fond of nature, and often said that he drew his inspiration from Finnish landscapes. So the location of the monument in this picturesque place is quite consistent with the spirit of the composer. They say that when the wind blows from the bay, the pipes sound like an organ, but today the structure did not make any sounds.