Taidetta, tarinoita, journalismia

Katunäkymä Kuressaarssa. Kuvat: Sirpa Pääkkönen Kesääni on kohta kymmenen vuotta kuulunut viikon matka Kuressaareen. Useille virolaisille ja suomalaisille Viron kesäpääkaupunki on Pärnu, mutta minulle se on Kuressaari, Saarenmaan kaunis ja romanttinen pääkaupunki. Siellä mukulakivet   mutkittelevat 1700-luvulla ja 1800-luvulla rakennettujen puutalojen välissä. Pienet puutarhat ja ruusutarhat koristavat taloja. Keskustorilla kohoaa muutama arvorakennus 1600-luvulta: raatihuone ja vaakahuone. Vaakahuoneen hauskannäköinen  julkisivu on rakennettu porrasmaisesti dolomiittikivestä. Kuressaari säilyi historiallisessa asussa, koska Saarenmaa oli sotilastukikohta, kun Viro kuului Neuvostoliittoon. Mantereelta sinne pääsi, jos sukulaiset lähettivät kutsun. Passi piti olla mukana.  Keskusaukion vieressä torilla käsityöläiset, puutarhurit ja marjanpoimijat kauppaavat tuotteitaan. Ostakaa, ostakaa litra mansikkaa, virolainen villapaita tai puinen pannunalust...

Могу сказать, что самый известный кот в Финляндии  - это Сямпю (Sampy), по крайней мере, я так считаю. Он  - хорошо известная  персона в Facebook. Я стал поклонником Sampy относительно поздно, уже тогда, когда у него появилось больше десяти тысяч подписчиков. Я осознал, что готов выразить свое восхищение, поставив лайк на Facebook. Так что теперь я могу ходить в лесные туры вместе с Sampy, следуя за его проворными прыжками и пушистым хвостом. Я решил обратиться к Sampy и попросить у него интервью. Я хотел узнать немного больше о коте, который очаровал меня и более 15 000 других поклонников. Для Финляндии это большое количество поклонников, потому что Финляндия -  маленькая страна в северной части Европы, всего 5,4 миллиона жителей. Я отправил вопросы Sampy, и он написал ответы своими маленькими лапками. Я ничего не изменил в ответах, только перевел, потому что он пока не говорит по-русски. Вот что он ответил. Какой ты породы, и где  живешь? "Я ...

The nursery of a wealthy citizen from the beginning of the 20th century. Photos: Sirpa Pääkkönen Tartu is a very charming small town in Estonia with the Old Town where the buildings represent classicism and are renovated very well. Besides the Old Town you can wander in the old wood house  parts of the city. In Tartu there are a lot of museums, hills and the river Ema crosses the city.. What I’d like to recommend seeing in Tartu besides the architecture is the Toy Museum in Tartu’s Old Town. It’s not only toys but also history what you can sense there, because the toys reflect the many changes Estonia has experienced throughout centuries. Toys from Soviet time. The permanent exhibition of the Tartu Toy Museum is on display in three old houses. The exhibition features living pictures of dolls and toys with which children have played throughout the ages: the porcelain dolls, tin soldiers, stone blocks and old teddy bears of city kids, the wood-carved animals and t...

Sämpy in his home forest. Photos: Sämpy's secretary I tell you , the most famous cat in Finland is Sämpy, or at least I believe so. He is a well known public figure in Facebook. I became a fan of Sämpy relatively late, only when already a lot more than ten thousand admirers had raised thumbs to Sämpy on his Facebook page. Finally , I realized myself to show my admiration with my thumb to  Sämpy on Facebook. So  I am able to follow the Sämpy’s  agile leap, furry tail and forest tours. I decided to approach Sämpy and asked him an interview. I wanted to understand a little bit more about the cat, which has charmed me, and more than 15 000 other successors. In Finland that is a big number of admirers, because Finland is small country in the Northern part of Europa, 5,4 million inhabitants we have. I send questions to Sämpy and he has written the answers with his small paws. I haven’t changed anything of his replies, only translated. He doesn't speak English, ...

Greenish tartan taffeta dress with train decorated with dark green stripes and buttons. Europa, about 1860. Photos: Sirpa Pääkkönen If you are interested in the history of women’s mode, at the museum of Kumu in Tallinn. you’ll find a good collection of Victorian style mode. The exhibition shows how wealthy women dressed on-words from 1850th. A hat. The exhibition is based on  the collection of Alexandre Vassiliev . He is fashion historian, stage designer and collector of Russian origin. There is foundation under his name. The foundation owns nearly 10 000 historical costume from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Two years  ago at Kumu there was a very good exhibition of Art deco style, also from his collection. The exhibition Poetry and Spleen at the contemporary art museum Kumu in Tallinn Estonia consists 50 costumes and more than 150 accessories and photos. The Vicorian era got its name from English queen Victorian (1837-1901)....

The Wedding dress that was never worn. Photos from the exhibition Sirpa Pääkkönen Good morning bunny, you look so sweet when you are sleeping that I want to come next to you. This message you can see written on a small piece of paper at the Museum of Broken Relationships in   Helsinki City museum. That was the time when life was still happy. But what happened? “He used to write me these cute little   notes on my birthday, when we were going through a rough patch or just to cheer me up on a regular day. We were good together, just not good enough”, writes the woman who got these notes after the break up. A sweet note. The Museum of Broken Relationships   is conceptualized by two artist   Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubišić in Croatia 2006 after their divorce. The museum has since then toured worldwide. The idea is to collect objects and stories which tell about broken relationships. In Finland the exhibition was opened in May. The objec...

Imatra Sate Hotel. Photos: Sirpa Pääkkönen Imatra State Hotel is one of the most beautiful buildings in Finland. In the European art nouveau building the style is rich and exciting . All walls are different and details countless. The house has towers and a wide range of windows and ornamentation based on the Finnish topics . For example, the main entrance you can find small reliefs of birds, fox and deer . The building was designed by Usko Nyström and completed in 1903. The architect   had received from the Senate a free hand to design a new river beach hotel. The condition was that the building was supposed to be made of stone. The previous two wooden hotels were burned. This room belonged to emperor Nicholas II. Grand hotel de Cascade was opened in 1903. Later the name was changed to Imatra State hotel. The building was like a medieval knight’s castle. There were 53 different-sized rooms and a large dining room. Material was light-coloured limestone. ...