Finland - a painting by Martti Ranttila (FI-519535)

I'm a complete ignorant when it comes to art, but I find it interesting to see pieces of art from different countries sometimes. It gives me a bit better idea about this country's culture and sometimes also history. Unfortunately, sometimes it's hard to find any further information about the artists (like in this case), probably because they're not really known outside their countries.

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The only info I could find about this card is that it's a painting called "Maisema" (according to the google translator it means "landscape" or "scenery"). It was painted by Martti Ranttila in 1944 and can be found in the Riihimäki Art Museum.

Finland - Oulu Cathedral (FI-513587)

It's definitely time for anotherFinnish postcard on my blog :) I haven't had any card from Oulu in my collection before, although it's the biggest and most important city of Northern Finland with population of 137,360. This card shows the interior of Lutheran Oulu Cathedral, which was originally built in 1777. The church that you can see in Oulu now was built in the 19th century in neoclassical style. I like this interior, because it seems to be very bright. I think it's neccessary in Northern Finland, because there's probably not enough light during the winter (Oulu is not so far away from the Arctic Circle).

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The Oulu Cathedral (in Finnish Oulun tuomiokirkko) is an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral and the seat of the Diocese of Oulu, located in the centre of Oulu, Finland. The church was built in 1777 as a tribute to the King of Sweden Gustav III of Sweden and named after his wife as Sofia Magdalena's church.

The wooden structures burned in the large fire of the city of Oulu in 1822. The church was built again on top of the old stonewalls with famous architect Carl Ludvig Engel as the designer. The restoration works were completed in 1832, but the bellfy was not erected until 1845.

Finland - Winter landscape (FI-535562)

As you may have already noticed, I've been showing you Finnish cards every 2nd update :) I really have a big variety of Finnish cards waiting in the queue now, so it's never just a random choice :) I've decided to choose this beautiful winter landscape for today's update for 2 reasons: first of all, it reminds of of the winter, which is already over (By the way, my summer holidays are going to begin in a week, but I honestly doubt, if it can make the summer come here earlier) and for the contrast with the card that you can see above :) I love both winter and summer and I was never able to answer the question about my favorite season. I think that the winter in Finland (and other northern countries) is especially beautiful.

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I love the frost on the trees and I'm trying to save in my memory some beautiful winter landscapes that I've really seen, as it doesn't happen very often. It seems to me that when I was a child (it was not really long time ago) ;) the winter was usually real, with lots of snow and frost. But maybe it's just such impression, because people usually remember only the best moments from their childhood... If the grass was greener, maybe also the snow might have been whiter and more frequent then? Anyway, the last time I saw a wonderful landscape with trees and hills covered by snow was in January... And I remember it very well for sure, because it was in Ukraine :)

Finland - Helsinki (FI-513701)

I hope you don't mind seeing Finnish cards on my blog so often :) To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the amount of Finnish and German cards that i was receiving through the official postcrossing, but now that I already have cards from many other countries (including some "rare" ones) I'm even interested in seeing the variety of cards published in Finland and Germany :)

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That's already my 2nd card showing the Lutheran Cathedral of Helsinki (I just don't know what's the name of building, which is on front of the church), but I like this view with a boat very much :) If I had a chance to go to Finland, I would certainly love to visit Lapland (maybe not during the winter), but it would be great if I could go there through Helsinki :)

Finland - Porvoo Cathedral (FI-507799)

I've been receiving a lot of Finnish official cards (just today 3 new ones have arrived here!), so I think I'll have to make updates with cards from this country even more often :) Now I have 10 Finnish cards waiting to be shown on this blog :) Some people complain about receiving too many Finnish landscapes, but, fortunately, I don't have this problem. I'm satisfied with the proportion of landscapes, city views, maps and cards showing people in national costumes in my collection of Finnish cards, which is getting really large :)

This card shows the Porvoo cathedral, which isn't very big (actually, I was surprised to read it was a cathedral), but is quite old - it was built in 15th century (some parts in 13th century).

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Porvoo cathedral (Finnish: Porvoon tuomiokirkko, Swedish: Borgå domkyrka) is a cathedral in Porvoo, Finland. It was built in the 15th century, although the oldest parts date from the 13th century. It is used by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and is the seat of the Diocese of Borgå, Finland's Swedish-speaking diocese. The cathedral is also used for services by the Porvoo Finnish-speaking parish, which is administratively part of the Diocese of Helsinki.

The church has been destroyed by fire numerous times; in 1508 by Danish and in 1571, 1590, and 1708 by Russian forces. On May 29, 2006, the outer roof collapsed after arson, however with the inner ceiling undamaged and the cathedral interiors intact.

The Cathedral was the site of opening of first Diet of Finland March 28, 1809 where Finland was declared an autonomous Grand Duchy, with the Emperor of Russia as the Grand Duke of Finland.

Finland - Aurora borealis (FI-504940)

I think it's time to show you the 2nd card showing aurora borealis that I've received some time ago :) This one comes from Finland and actually I was almost sure that if I ever receive a card showing aurora borealis, it'll certainly come from Finland (and then I received 2 on the same day - from Finland and from Russia) :)

There's some information on the back side of this card. It says: "When the particles of the solar wind hit the atmosphere of the earth the oxygen of the air flares in green light". I understand the words, but still don't understand how it works. And I don't really think I want to understand it. I think that aurora borealis is beautiful even for people, who understand physics and astronomy very well, but I like the feeling that it's something mysterious, even if I know that in fact there is some scientific explaination. I read that auroras occur occasionally also in temperate latitudes, but I've never been lucky enough to see it :(

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Aurorae are produced by the collision of charged particles from Earth's magnetosphere, mostly electrons but also protons and heavier particles, with atoms and molecules of Earth's upper atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km (50 miles)). The particles have energies of 1 to 100 keV. They originate from the Sun and arrive at the vicinity of Earth in the relatively low-energy solar wind. When the trapped magnetic field of the solar wind is favourably oriented (principally southwards) it connects with Earth's magnetic field, and solar particles enter the magnetosphere and are swept to the magnetotail. Further magnetic reconnection accelerates the particles towards Earth.

The collisions in the atmosphere electrically excite electrons to take quantum leaps (a mechanism in which the electron's kinetic energy is converted to visible light); and molecules in the upper atmosphere. The excitation energy can be lost by light emission or collisions. Most aurorae are green and red emissions from atomic oxygen. Molecular nitrogen and nitrogen ions produce some low level red (pink) and very high blue/violet aurorae. The light blue and green colors are produced by ionic nitrogen and the neutral helium gives off the purple colour whereas Neon is responsible for the rare orange flares with the rippled edges. Different gasses interacting with the upper atmosphere will produce different colors, caused by the different compounds of oxygen and nitrogen. The level of solar wind activity from the Sun can also influence the color of the aurorae.

Finland - People from Lapland in national costumes (FI-503381)

I'm glad to receive more and more cards showing people in national costumes :) Not surprisingly, most of them come from Finland and especially from Lapland, because this region is probably considered to be the most interesting one, when it comes to indigenous peoples' folklore and traditions.
In most European countries people don't wear the national costumes anymore, even in the villages. There are some groups of people, who want to save the unique folklore, so they wear their traditional costumes for some holidays and events. I wonder, if it's the same also in Lapland? Or maybe the old traditions are still and important part of Sami peoples' life?

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By the way, are these animals reindeers? I've never seen a real one, although I used to dream of meeting them, when I still had no doubts in existence of Santa Claus :)))

Finland - Teijo church (FI-501032)

This card shows the altarpiece of Teijo church, located in Salo region of Finland. I thought it would be impossible to find any information about it, but I found out that it was probably the smallest stone church in Finland. It was completed in 1830. And it was sent with a very nice Easter stamp :)

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I like magnificient cathedrals, because they're interesting from the historic and touristic point of view. But I prefer the atmosphere of small churches, because it's so much easier to think, pray or just calm down there. I don't know, what does the whole Teijo church look like, but knowing it is a small stone building I suppose I would feel really good there :)

Finland - Helsinki Cathedral (FI-499853)

I tried to make a variety on my blog by not posting cards from the same countries too often (my idea was to have just one card per country on each page, which contains 15 cards), which resulted in having almost 10 Finnish cards waiting to be posted. I think it's just impossible to stick to such rules if you exchange cards mainly through the official postcrossing system :) As I always visit postcard blogs / galleries of people that I sent cards to, I suppose that others can do the same and think that I dislike their cards, if they don't appear on my blog for a very long time. That's why I decided to "break" those rules a bit, at least for Finland :) I hope you don't mind it.

Now I have cards showing both cathedrals in Helsinki :) Not so long time ago I received one showing the Orthodox Cathedral and this one shows the Lutheran Cathedral. By the way, both Lutheran and Orthodox churches have national status in Finland, although only about 1% of Finns are Orthodox.

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Helsinki Cathedral (in Finnish Helsingin tuomiokirkko or Suurkirkko, in Swedish Helsingfors domkyrka or Storkyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. The church was originally built as a tribute to the Grand Duke, Nicholas I, the Tsar of Russia and until the independence of Finland in 1917, it was called St. Nicholas' Church. A distinct landmark in the scenery of central Helsinki, with a tall green dome surrounded by four smaller domes, the church was built in 1830-1852, in neoclassical style. Today the cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Helsinki. Annually more than 350,000 people visit the church, some of them to attend religious events, but most are tourists. The church is in regular use for both worship services and special events such as weddings.

Finland - A girl from Satakunta in national costume (FI-495483)

When I received my first card with national costumes (which was also from Finland, but from another region - Lapland), I wrote honestly that I could see no big difference between national costumes from different countries. Of course, I meant only the European countries, because there's no way to confuse them with African or Asian ones :) And I'm glad to write that Postcrossing has helped me to learn something now - now I know that there are hundreds of types of national costumes in Europe and that they're not as similar to one another as I used to think. I've already received several cards showing people in national costumes from different countries and soon they became one of my favorites. Therefore I've created a new category on my blog :)

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This card shows a girl from Satakunta region of Finland in a national costume. Comparing this card to the one I received from Lapland before makes me sure that there can be a great variety of traditions even within one country with a small population. I doubt if there are many people wearing such costumes at least for some festivals nowadays, but it seems to me that folklore has been becoming more and more popular (maybe even fashionable, though I hate this word), so I think there's hope that national costumes will survive and that I'll receive many cards for this new category :)

Finland - The Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki (FI-492921)

I think I've already told you before that I like receiving city views from Finland :) In fact, I haven't received any Finnish card that I wouldn't like so far, but I prefer the city views just because the Finnish cities are less known than the landscapes. Still, there's something about the Finnish nature that I would like to see on a postcard :) I mean the northern lights (aurora borealis). I know that it's typical not only for Finland, but I think that probablity of receiving such card from Finland is higher, than from any other country, just because of the number of Finnish postcrossers :)

Dear reader of my blog, if you live in Finland (or any other country, where it's possible to get a card showing the aurora borealis), I would be really thankful if you agreed to exchange cards from me! :)

But let's come back to this card, which I find really beautiful and interesting as well :) It shows the Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki. It's considered to be the biggest Orthodox church in West Europe. Well, I wouldn't call Finland a West European country, because I live West from Finland and I'm proud of being East European :))) But I think the division into West and East Europe is based mostly on historical, political and cultural reasons. So I think that Finns are right in some way... And it's always nice to have something biggest in your country :)

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Uspenski Cathedral (Finnish: Uspenskin katedraali, Swedish: Uspenskij-katedralen, Russian: Успенский собор) is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary). Its name comes from the Russian word uspenie, which denotes the Dormition. Designed by the Russian architect Alexey Gornostaev (1808-1862), the cathedral was built after his death in 1862-1868. The Cathedral is set upon a hillside on the Katajanokka peninsula overlooking the city. On the back of the cathedral, there is a plaque commemorating Russian Emperor Alexander II, who was the sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Finland during the cathedral's construction. Main cathedral of the Finnish Orthodox Church in the diocese of Helsinki, Uspenski Cathedral is claimed to be the largest orthodox church in Western Europe, although Finland is normally included into Northern Europe.

Finland - The National Flag of Finland (FI-479175)

That's already my 2nd flag card from Finland, but this one is even better, because I especially like the ones with just one flag. Still, I really appreciate any kind of flag cards and they're always on top of my wishlist, along with the map cards :) I already posted some info about the National Flag of Finland with the previous Finnish flag card, so today I'll just write about my impression, that Finns have a really good mix of colors on their flag. Blue and white separately don't belong to my favorite colors, but together they look really beautiful and I can see it especially on this card.

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Finland - Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park

This card, received in the World Languages RR (written in Polish) shows the beautiful nature of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in Lapland. It's quite far above the Atctic Circle and close to the Swedish border. I love places, where the nature isn't spoiled yet... And, as I've already written for thousands of time, I'd really love to visit Lapland :)


Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park (Finnish: Pallas-Yllästunturin kansallispuisto) is the third-largest national park in Finland, located in the Lapland Province. It was formally established in 2005, when Pallas-Ounastunturi National Park was joined with Ylläs-Aakenus protected area. It is the third largest national park in Finland, covering 1,020 square kilometres (394 sq mi). The high fells of the park are the southernmost place to see some arctic species in Finland. Most of the park consists of primeval forests and various types of muskeg.

Finland - an illustration by Rudolf Koivu (FI-480200)

This card was sent from a postcrossing meeting in Finland :) I remember receiving another postcard with signatures of several Finnish postcrossers last year. To be honest, I envy them a bit, because it's not so difficult to organise a postcrossing meeting in Finland :) I think it would be great to meet other Polish postcrossers, but there are not so many of us, so I doubt if it would work out...

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This postcard shows a beautiful illustration by Rudolf Koivu (1890-1946), a famous Finnish illustrator of fairytales and books for children. These angels make me feel very peaceful :)

Finland - Sauna (FI-452305)

This postcard shows something very typical for Finland - a sauna :) Of course, you can find saunas in many other countries, but for Finnish people it's part of culture and national identity. Have you known that there were 2 million of saunas for just 5 millions of inhabitants in Finland?

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Records and other historical evidence indicate that the Finns built the first wooden saunas in the 5th or 8th century. Early saunas were dug into a hill or embankment. As tools and techniques advanced, they were later built above ground using wooden logs. Rocks were heated in a stone fireplace with a wood fire. The smoke from the fire filled the room as the air warmed.

Once the temperature reached desired levels, the smoke was allowed to clear and the bathers entered. The wood smoke aroma still lingered and was part of the cleansing ritual. This type of traditional smoke sauna was called a savusauna, which simply means "smoke sauna" in Finnish. Many people find the smell of smoke and wood to be relaxing.

Finland - Turku + strange map of Europe :)) (FI-476530)

When I saw this card for this first time, I didn't notice anything strange :) It's actually a very nice card, giving some idea about Turku and it's location. But...

There's definitely something wrong with this map :))) Look, there's Yugoslavia and Soviet Union... But if you think it's just an old map - you're wrong, because Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are marked as independent countries. Also Czech Republic and Slovakia are separate countries (they divided in 1993, so 2 years after the collapse of Soviet Union), but there's also something wrong with the Czech-Slovak border. Quite a big part of Czech Republic is in Slovakia on this map. I wonder, if someone has drawn such map on purpose or is it just a result of ignorance? :)) Anyway, it feels a bit strange to see a NEW map of Europe without the Ukraine.

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Finland - Porvoo (FI-457547)

This beautiful card consists of 4 photos taken by the sender (everytime I receive this kind of self-made card, I regret not being able to photograph so well). I really like especially the winter views (even very common trees look so unusual with a lot of snow on them) :)

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Porvoo (Swedish: Borgå), is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) east of Helsinki. The town received its name from a Swedish earth fortress near the river Porvoonjoki which flows through the town (Swedish Borgå, borg meaning castle and å river). Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century. Porvoo is the seat of the Swedish speaking Diocese of Borgå of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

Finland - Lapland (FI-440415)

When I found this card in my mailbox, it seemed a bit familiar to me... Later I understood that it was because I already had a card showing the girl, which you can see on the 3rd picture from left in the top line. I really like it, because it gives me wider view of Lapland and people that live there. By the way, I didn't know that reindeers where so white :))

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Finland - The Arctic Circle (FI-435941)

I really love this card! :) First of all, because I've been interested in geography since early childhood :) It's always been interesting for me, why in the Northern- and Southernmost parts of Earth the night can last even half a year :) Of coruse, now I just understand it, but still, I think it's something worth seeing, not just understanding.
Here's the information about the Arctic Circle from the back side of this card:

The Arctic Circle - A border where the sun does not sink in the summer nor rise in the winter on its northern side - for at least one day a year. While quietly proceeding, the Arctic Circle fluctuates during its journey of 250 kilometres one or two meters every day - swinging back and forth, but nevertheless reaching each end alonf the way at interims of 40 000 years.

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Finland - Degerby (FI-449793)

This postcard shows the Degerby village in Finland. Unfortunately, I haven't found any further information about it, but, according to the sender, it's only 50km away from Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

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