Johan Ludvig Runeberg Memorial Statue, Esplanade

I was out with my girlfriends in downtown Helsinki. Walked along the Esplanade park Gardens. Didn't really have time to take pictures, but quickly took this one. It's one of the statues that the tourists always photograph. And as a tourist in Helsinki you quite certainly would walk along the Esplanade. :-)

Johan Ludvig Runeberg Memorial Statue, Esplanade Gardens, Helsinki, Finland

Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finnish poet, and is the national poet of Finland. He wrote in the Swedish language. Runeberg's most famous work is Fänrik Ståls sägner (The Tales of Ensign Stål, Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat in Finnish) written between 1848 and 1860. It is considered the greatest Finnish epic poem outside the native Kalevala tradition and contains tales of the Swedish War of 1808-09 with Russia. In the war, Sweden ignominiously lost Finland, which became a Grand Duchy in the Russian empire. The poem, which is composed episodically, emphasizes the common humanity of all sides in the conflict, while principally lauding the heroism of the Finns. The first poem "Vårt land" (Our Land, Maamme in Finnish) became the Finnish National Anthem. Runeberg is celebrated on 5 February each year.