Friday Bliss #181 - Häme Castle

I’ll share some Finland sightseeing today. We visited the Häme Castle, a medieval castle in Hämeenlinna last autumn. The Castle was most likely built during the late 13th century to serve as military base in the border zone between Sweden and Novgorod. At the end of the Middle ages the castle was governed by some of the most influential Swedish houses, the Tott, the Sture and the Posse. The castle has seen use as a women’s prison 1883-1972 and is currently a museum and one of the main tourist attractions of southern Finland, being the centerpiece of the city of Hämeenlinna and a popular venue for events, including renaissance fairs.

The future meets the Middle Ages. Belgian contemporary artist Nick Ervinck is known for his colourful 3D sculptures. Ervinck’s cyrborg-like sculptures combine historical imagery with modern technology. The works engage in dialogue with the historical environs and objects of the castle: for example, the contrast between the sculptures and the castle’s suits of armour challenges visitors to ponder the evolution of technology. 

❤︎❤︎❤︎

Wishing you a bright & sunny winter weekend!

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Friday Bliss #174 - Palander House

It’s Friday again, dear blog friends and today I’ll take you to a small home museum in Hämeenlinna that we visited in the autumn when we went to see Selma and Silva for the first time.

Built in 1861, the Palander House is a home museum located in the center of Hämeenlinna. The museum presents the way of life and urban living of the middle-class bourgeoisie in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to the main exhibition, the museum has two seasonal exhibitions each year: Christmas and Easter. 

The October Saturday was quiet in the museum, only one visitor in addition to me and DH. I found it interesting to see the house, furniture and indoor decoration style. In this museum there was not much art or paintings, but still it was worth a visit.

This room was decorated in Art Deco or Jugend style.

❤︎❤︎❤︎

Wishing a great winter weekend!

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Friday Bliss #169 - Birthplace of Jean Sibelius

On Wednesday we celebrated the birthday of our national composer Jean Sibelius. He was born on 8th of December 1865 in Hämeenlinna and lived in this elegant town house the first three years of his life. Sibelius' father was city doctor of Hämeenlinna, but he died of typhoid when Janne was less than three years old. The father left great debts, and as a result the mother Maria Charlotta had to sell the house and move with Linda and Janne to her widowed mother elsewhere in Hämeenlinna while she was still pregnant of the youngest son Christian. 

Sibelius' birthplace is a charming little museum in Hämeenlinna, which I visited in the autumn. The rooms are decorated in the style of the 1860s - 1880s, and the museum exhibition illuminates little Janne's childhood. Chamber concerts are held regularly in the museum hall. The atmosphere of the museum was calm and Sibelius' music was playing in the background - a charming visit!

When young he was a very handsome man. There were many photos to be seen.

I visited also The Sibelius Museum in Turku, that showed his family tree with Aino Järnefelt.

Beautiful Aino came from a very well known cultural family of the Järnefelts.

Her brothers were painter Eero, composer Armas, writer Arvid and critic Kasper.

Here you can read more about Sibelius and his multiple travels abroad.

Sibelius loved Christmas and the advent season eased his depressions. At the Sibelius Museum in Turku, I saw this wall-sized enlargement of a crane with a citation from Sibelius' diary from September 1916. I think it aptly breathes the composer's humility before nature and the depression he experienced when autumn arrived. 

On all these days I have seen cranes;

full of music moving to the south.

Have been the willing pupil once again.

Their calls are my life thread.

Get increasingly close to heaven.

My heart full of melancholy and nature worship.

- Sibelius' diary the 10th of September 1916

There exist six Christmas carols composed by Jean Sibelius. They are not jolly and bright, more like slow psalms, but they are very popular in Finland and belong to every Christmas. I seek not Power or Glory, 1909 (lyrics Zacharias Topelius) starts like this and HERE you can listen to it interpreted by the acappella group Rajaton.

I seek not power or glory

Nor do I long for gold

I ask but for the light of heaven

And for peace on earth

I seek not power or glory

Nor do I long for gold

I ask but for the light of heaven

And for peace on earth

 

It brings us Christmas joy

And lifts our spirits towards God

Not power nor even gold

Just peace on earth

https://lyricstranslate.com

I seek not power or glory

Nor do I long for gold

I ask but for the light of heaven

And for peace on earth

 

It brings us Christmas joy

And lifts our spirits towards God

Not power nor even gold

Just peace on earth

https://lyricstranslate.com

I seek not power or glory

Nor do I long for gold

I ask but for the light of heaven

And for peace on earth

 

It brings us Christmas joy

And lifts our spirits towards God

Not power nor even gold

Just peace on earth

https://lyricstranslate.com

Sibelius' daughter Margareta Jalas has said that the carol I Seek not Power or Glory had a special place in Ainola's Christmas celebration. While Christmas songs were usually accompanied on the piano by Sibelius himself, this song was always accompanied by the mother of the family, Aino Sibelius. Its words are so easy to agree with in this global situation. I am especially fond of the carol Over Hill and Dale - it has an unusually beautiful melody. HERE you can listen to it interpreted by the opera singer Jorma Hynninen.

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Have a blessed Advent Season!

Thank you for all the lovely comments you leave week after week at Friday Bliss.

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Excursion to Hämeenlinna

Last Saturday we went to see our new kitten Siru to Hämeenlinna. It is a city and municipality of about 68,000 inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of Finland. The distance from Helsinki is about 100 km. Hämeenlinna is the oldest inland city of Finland and was one of the most important Finnish cities until the 19th century. 

It was a cloudy October day, pretty warm, no wind. We enjoyed the city views with colorful foliage 

and old wooden houses. Siru was cute of course ❤︎ and we did some sightseeing too. 

We visited the medieval Häme Castle...

... and the birth place of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). It was a charming wooden townhouse 

in Empire style, where Sibelius spent the three first years of his life. 

... and The Palander House which presents the lifestyle of 

a bourgeois Hämeenlinna family 100 years ago. 

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#der natur donnerstag #garden affair #gartenglück #image-in-ing #makrotex / october

#my corner of the world #tuesday's treasures #t in die neue woche #wednesday around the world