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Presidential Palace
Helsinki
The
Presidential Palace is located in Helsinki, Finland and is one of
the official places for the President of Finland to live while he is
in office and sits on the northern side of the city, in the district
called Esplanadi, that looks out over Market Square on the front
side, and the back sits next to the sea, allowing beautiful views
from both sides of the palace. In the early years of the 19th
century, a salt storehouse sat on the property, until Johan Henrik
Heidenstrauch, one of the city's richest merchants, bought the
property and began building this marvelous residence from 1816 to
1820, designed by Pehr Granstedt. The Heidenstrauch House looked
more like a palace that a wealthy merchant's home, and in 1837, it
did become a palace when it was bought for 170,000 ruobles and then
converted into a home for the Governor-General of Finland. Later,
Nicolas I decided that it should be used as the official residence
of the Tsar of Russia/Grand Duke of Finland in Helsinki, in which
case, it did become the Imperial Palace of Helsinki. As time
continued to pass, the palace was used less and less, until WWI when
it had to be used for the Helsinki Temporary Military Hospital
during 1915, and finally in the February Revolution of 1917, the
palace stopped being a military hospital and became the property of
the Senate. When the new constitution was ratified in 1919, the
former palace became the official residence of the President and
repairs and changes made in record time. The exquisite furnishings
and art works that had been stored in the National Museum and the
Ateneum Art Museum were returned and also supplemented, staying the
residence of the President. During 1938, Martti Valikangas would
modernize the palace and make it more suitable to become the
official residence; which it has been, except the presidencies of
Ryti, Mannerheim and Kekkonen, who preferred living at Tamminiemi;
until 1993. Then, a new residence was constructed, called Mantyniemi
and the president moved in there. There have been many distinguished
visitors to the palace over the years, including; Carl XVI Gustaf of
Sweden, the Shah of Iran, Juan Carlos I of Spain, Olav V of Norway,
Emperor Akihito of Japan, Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Gerald
Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush; as well as Pope John Paul
II, Conan O'Brien, Nikita Khrushchev, Horst Kohler, Boris Yeltsin,
and Vladimir Putin.
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