HELSINGFORS, hel'sing-fors, Russia, seaport town, capital of Finland, on a small peninsula in the Gulf of Finland, 180 miles by rail west-northwest of 1,1 1 :.is de fended by the fortress of Sveaborg about three miles distant, and is the residence of the gov ernor of Finland, the seat of important courts and public offices. The most noteworthy build ings are the governor's residence, senate house, university buildings, the Russian church, the church of Saint Nicholas (Lutheran), the Athenai,im and two modern theatres. Its university, removed from Abo in 1827, has a library of over 190,000 volumes. There are four faculties and about 2,500 students; main tains a hospital, zoological and botanical museums, botanic gardens and an observatory. The town is a popular bathing place, has very many newspapers, of which 40 are in Finnish and about 30 in Swedish. There are manu factories of linen, sail-cloth, tobacco, beer, sugar, liquors, linen, carpets, etc., and an important
trade is carried on in agricultural and dairy products with English, German, Russian and Swedish ports. It is the seat of a United States consul. It was founded in 1550 by Gus tavus I of Sweden on a site further inland, removed to its present site in 1640 and was destroyed by the Russians in 1713. It was fortified in 1729 and came into the possession of Russia in 1809. It was bombarded by the allied fleet for 48 hours during the Crimean War. Consult Brummer, 'Historiska anteck ningar om Helsingfors och Sveaborg' (Hel singfors 1874) ; Ehrstrom, 'Helsingfors stads kistoria fran 1640 till Stora Ofrenden' (ib. 1890); Id., 'Finland in seclet' (ib. 1893) ; Hertzberg, 'Helsingfors for tre hundra ar sedan och i vlra dagar' (ib. 1888) ; Nordham, P., (Bidrag till Helsingfors stads historia' (ib. 1905-08) : and 'Finlandias (Vol. I, ib. 1906).