1.
Porvoo
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Porvoo is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately 50 kilometres east of Helsinki. Porvoo is one of the six towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century. Porvoo is the seat of the Swedish-speaking Diocese of Borgå of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the municipalitys official languages are Finnish and Swedish. In 2014,64. 6% of the population spoke Finnish as their mother tongue,5. 4% had a different mother tongue. Neighbouring municipalities, Askola, Loviisa, Myrskylä, Pornainen and Sipoo, Porvoo was first mentioned in documents in the early 14th century, and Porvoo was given city rights around 1380, even though according to some sources the city was founded in 1346. The old city of Porvoo was formally disestablished and the new city of Porvoo founded in 1997 when the city of Porvoo, when Sweden lost the city of Viborg to Russia in 1721, the episcopal seat was moved to Porvoo. At this time, Porvoo was the second largest city in Finland, after the conquest of Finland by Russian armies in 1808 Sweden had to cede Finland to Russia in 1809. The Diet of Porvoo in 1809 was a landmark in the History of Finland, the Tsar Alexander I confirmed the new Finnish constitution, and made Finland an autonomous Grand Duchy. It established the Porvoo Communion, so named after the Porvoo Cathedral where the Eucharist was celebrated on the final Sunday of the leading to the Statement. The town received its name from a Swedish earth fortress near the river Porvoonjoki which flows through the town, the name Porvoo is the Fennicised version of the Swedish name and its parts of borg meaning castle and å river. The Old Town came close to being demolished in the 19th century by a new plan for the city. The plan was cancelled due to a popular resistance headed by Count Louis Sparre, the cathedral was damaged by fire on 29 May 2006, the roof was totally destroyed but the interior is largely intact. A drunken youth had played with fire at the church, unaware of recent tarwork and nearby tarcontainers and he was later sentenced to a short prison term and restitutions of 4.3 million Euro. The red-coloured wooden storage buildings on the riverside are a proposed UNESCO world heritage site, by the early 19th century authorities already understood the value of the old town. With the need for growth, a plan was envisioned for a new town adjacent to the old town, following a grid plan. By the end of the 20th century there was pressure to develop the essentially untouched western side of the river, there was concern that growth would necessitate the construction of a second bridge across the river into the town, thus putting further strain on the wooden town. An architectural competition was held in 1990, the entry of which proposed building the second bridge. Plans for the side of the river have progressed under the direction of architect Tuomas Siitonen
2.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
3.
Helsinki
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Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki has a population of 629,512, a population of 1,231,595. Helsinki is located some 80 kilometres north of Tallinn, Estonia,400 km east of Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities. The Helsinki metropolitan area includes the core of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen. It is the worlds northernmost metro area of one million people. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Nordic countries, Helsinki is Finlands major political, educational, financial, cultural, and research center as well as one of northern Europes major cities. Approximately 75% of foreign companies operating in Finland have settled in the Helsinki region, the nearby municipality of Vantaa is the location of Helsinki Airport, with frequent service to various destinations in Europe and Asia. In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 2012 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, the city was the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest 2007. In 2011, the Monocle magazine ranked Helsinki the most liveable city in the world in its Liveable Cities Index 2011, in the Economist Intelligence Units August 2015 Liveability survey, assessing the best and worst cities to live in globally, Helsinki placed among the worlds top ten cities. Helsinki is used to refer to the city in most languages, the Swedish name Helsingfors is the original official name of the city. The Finnish name probably comes from Helsinga and similar names used for the river that is known as the Vantaa River. Helsingfors comes from the name of the parish, Helsinge and the rapids, which flowed through the original village. As part of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, one suggestion for the origin of the name Helsinge is that it originated with medieval Swedish settlers who came from Hälsingland in Sweden. Others have proposed that the name derives from the Swedish word helsing, other Scandinavian cities located at similar geographic locations were given similar names at the time, for example Helsingør and Helsingborg. The name Helsinki has been used in Finnish official documents and in Finnish language newspapers since 1819, the decrees issued in Helsinki were dated with Helsinki as the place of issue. This is how the form Helsinki came to be used in written Finnish, in Helsinki slang the city is called Stadi. Hesa, is not used by natives to the city, helsset is the Northern Sami name of Helsinki
4.
Swedish-speaking population of Finland
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The Swedish-speaking population of Finland is a linguistic minority in Finland. They maintain an identity and are seen either as a separate ethnic group, while still being Finns. Swedish-speakers comprise 5. 4% of the total Finnish population or about 4. 9% without Åland, the proportion has been steadily diminishing since the early 19th century, when Swedish was the mother tongue of approximately 15% of the population and considered a prestige language. It is estimated that 70% of bilingual families—that is, ones with one parent Finnish-speaking, the Swedish term finlandssvensk, which is used by the group itself, does not have an established English translation. The Research Institute for the Languages of Finland proposes Swedish-speaking Finns, Swedish Finns, or Finland-Swedes, the expressions Swedish-speaking Finns, Swedes of Finland, Finland Swedes, Finnish Swedes, and Swedish Finns are all used in academic literature. The age of the Swedish-speaking population in the territory that today constitutes Finland was a subject of debate in early 20th century as a part of the Finlands language strife. Some Finland-Swede scholars like Ralf Saxén, Knut Hugo Pipping and Tor Karsten used place names trying to prove that the Swedish settlement in Finland dates back to prehistoric times and their views where opposed mainly by Heikki Ojansuu in 1920s. In 1966, the historian Hämäläinen addressed the strong correlation between the scholars mother-tongue and the views on the age and continuity of the Scandinavian settlement history of Finland. During the recent decades several Swedish-speaking philologists, archaeologists and historians from Finland have criticized the theories of Germanic/Scandinavian continuity in Finland, simultaneously the growth of population in Sweden, together with lack of land, resulted in Swedish settlements in Southern and Western coastal areas of Finland. The Second Swedish Crusade against the Tavastians in 13th century extended the Swedish settlements to Uusimaa and their departure from Sweden proper to Finland was encouraged and organized by the Swedish authorities. The proportion of Swedish speakers in Finland has declined since the 18th century, when the Grand Duchy of Finland was formed and Karelia was reunited with Finland, the share of Swedish speakers was 15% of the population. During the 19th century a national awakening occurred in Finland and it was supported by the Russian central administration for practical reasons, as a security measure to weaken Swedish influence in Finland. This trend was reinforced by the wave of nationalism in Europe in the mid-19th century. As a result, under the influence of the German idea of one national language, many influential Swedish-speaking families learned Finnish, fennicized their names and changed their everyday language to Finnish, sometimes not a very easy task. As the educated class in Finland was almost entirely Swedish-speaking, the first generation of the Finnish nationalists, the language issue was not primarily an issue of ethnicity, but an ideological and philosophical issue as to what language policy would best preserve Finland as a nation. This also explains why so many academically educated Swedish speakers changed to Finnish, both parties had the same patriotic objectives, but their methods were completely the opposite. The language strife would continue up until World War II, the majority of the population – both Swedish and Finnish speakers – were farmers, fishermen and other workers. The farmers lived mainly in areas, while the other workers lived in bilingual areas such as Helsinki
5.
August Strindberg
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Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed innovative forms of action, language. He is considered the father of modern Swedish literature and his The Red Room has frequently described as the first modern Swedish novel. In Sweden, Strindberg is known as an essayist, painter, poet, and especially as a novelist and playwright, but in other countries he is known mostly as a playwright. The Royal Theatre rejected his first major play, Master Olof, in 1872, it was not until 1881, at the age of thirty-two, that its première at the New Theatre gave him his theatrical breakthrough. In Miss Julie, characterisation replaces plot as the predominant dramatic element and the role of heredity. During the 1890s he spent significant time abroad engaged in scientific experiments, a series of psychotic attacks between 1894 and 1896 led to his hospitalization and return to Sweden. Under the influence of the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg, he resolved after his recovery to become the Zola of the Occult, in 1898 he returned to play-writing with To Damascus, which, like The Great Highway, is a dream-play of spiritual pilgrimage. He also returned to writing historical drama, the genre with which he had begun his play-writing career and he helped to run the Intimate Theatre from 1907, a small-scale theatre, modeled on Max Reinhardts Kammerspielhaus, that staged his chamber plays. Strindberg was born on 22 January 1849 in Stockholm, Sweden, in his autobiographical novel The Son of a Servant, Strindberg describes a childhood affected by emotional insecurity, poverty, religious fanaticism and neglect. When he was seven, Strindberg moved to Norrtullsgatan on the northern, a year later the family moved near to Sabbatsberg, where they stayed for three years before returning to Norrtullsgatan. He attended a school in Klara for four years, an experience that haunted him in his adult life. He was moved to the school in Jakob in 1860, which he found far more pleasant, in the autumn of 1861, he was moved to the Stockholm Lyceum, a progressive private school for middle-class boys, where he remained for six years. As a child he had a keen interest in science, photography. His mother, Strindberg recalled later with bitterness, always resented her sons intelligence and she died when he was thirteen, and although his grief lasted for only three months, in later life he came to feel a sense of loss and longing for an idealized maternal figure. Less than a year after her death, his father married the childrens governess, according to his sisters, Strindberg came to regard them as his worst enemies. He passed his exam in May 1867 and enrolled at the Uppsala University. Strindberg spent the few years in Uppsala and Stockholm, alternately studying for exams
6.
Dramatens elevskola
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It was established in 1787 by the theatre and art loving King Gustav III and was for many years under the protection of the Swedish royal family. The school was founded in 1787, in 1788, it was called The Childrens Theatre, teaching children between the ages of 9-14. The school is noted to have performed a play for the king, one of the first students known was Lars Hjortsberg, who also performed at this occasion and became one of the stars of Swedish theatre history. The school was re-organised in 1793 by Anne Marie Milan Desguillons and her spouse, the students was often used in small parts by the royal theatre and in student performances. The instructors were often actors from the royal theatre, the education originally was one year long, but later in the end of the 1910s became two years and later in 1930s extended to three years. In the 1960s, Sweden - as many other countries - was influenced by new theatre traditions, such as method acting, the International Theatre Institute arranged several symposia in Europe, which both students and teachers attended and the debate grew. The opinion in Sweden was strong to make the school a national, non-traditional. The old education and teaching methods were questioned, and it was decided by the Swedish government that the school was to be separated from the Royal Dramatic Theatre. It was the director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Ingmar Bergman. For better or worse can always be debated, but its a fact that the students lost contact with the Royal Dramatic Theatres long tradition, drama history, the last class of Dramatens elevskola was the class of 1967. o. Om igen, herr Molander. by Ingrid Luterkort, Stockholmia Förlag, Borås, teater före 1800 Sten Carlsson, Den svenska historien, Gustav III, en upplyst envåldshärskare. Band 10 The Royal Dramatic Theatre - DRAMATEN. se Greta Garbo at Dramaten
7.
Betty Deland
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Hedvig Kristina Elisabeth Betty Deland, as married Almlöf, was a Swedish child actresses, actress and principal at Dramatens elevskola. She is often mentioned as one of the most notable actors of her countrys history in the Victorian age, Betty was born into one of Swedens most well known theatre families. Betty Deland debuted as an actor in the Royal Dramatic Theatre in a boys breeches role at the age of five in 1836. After studies in dance and acting she debuted in a part in Uppsala in 1847. As a member of her fathers troupe, she was to all over both Sweden and Finland during the 1850s. They regularly performed in Åbo Svenska Teater and they were the first actors performing on the stage of Finland. In Stockholm, they performed in Djurgårdsteatern. Of the five hundred well-known parts she did, she made three hundred of them in her fathers troupe, in 1861, Betty Deland was employed with her husband in first Mindre teatern in Stockholm and in 1863 by the Royal Dramatic Theatre, from 1866 as a premier-actor. Both she and her husband were to become regarded as two of their countrys most notable actors. She was recommended for her expressive mimic, her nuances of voice, her interpretations and natural way of acting, though among her most popular parts were often girls parts. Between 1874 and 1877 she was an instructor and a principal at Dramatens elevskola jointly with her husband and she kept her position as actor at the theatre until her death in 1882. Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon Österberg, Carin et al, Svenska kvinnor, föregångare, nyskapare Lund, Signum 1990. Berättelser ur svenska historien / Elfte bandet, per Anders Fogelström - Komikern Roman om en teaterfamilj Bonniers 1989 Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. Feiss - Fruktmögel Georg Nordensvan, Svensk teater och svenska skådespelare från Gustav III till våra dagar
8.
Royal Dramatic Theatre
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The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Swedens national stage for spoken drama, founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatres eight running stages, the theatre has been at its present location in the Art Nouveau building at Nybroplan, Stockholm, since 1908. The theatre was built by the architect Fredrik Lilljekvist, famous artists like Carl Milles and Carl Larsson were involved in making the decorations, and some of the interior decorations were made by Prince Eugen. The school was split off as an institution in 1967. The first Swedish theatre opened in Bollhuset and Lejonkulan in 1667, while the plays were sometimes open to the public, it remained more or less a court theatre. The first Swedish play, Den Svenska Sprätthöken, was performed in 1737 by the first Swedish theatre company, the Swedish theatre was turned out of their playhouse by Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia after the 1753-54 season, and the playhouse was given to a French company. In 1773, king Gustav III fired the French company and encouraged Swedish talents, and thus, a theatre of spoken drama was founded in the same building in 1787, but was not to last long. In 1788 the director fled the country to escape his creditors, so the actors formed a company and asked for the kings protection, Swedens national stage for dramatic art was established by King Gustav III in 1788. It was then that the Royal Theatre in Sweden was officially split in two, and the Royal Theatre became thereafter solely an opera stage, for spoken drama a new theatre was built specifically, called Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern—the Royal Dramatic Theatre, to distinguish it from the Royal Theatre. In 1798, the theatres and operas of Stockholm were united by a monopoly. In 1825, the old Palace building of the theatre caught fire, the theatre was now located in the same building as the Opera, an arrangement that was to continue for almost forty years. The middle of the 19th century was to mean changes both within and without the theatre and this time, however, the strike was broken by the government, which gave some of them raised salaries and fired the others with pensions. There was much criticism about the sharing of localities between the opera and the theatre, as the localities of the Opera were built for singing and considered unsuitable for spoken drama. In 1863, the Royal Dramatic Theatre purchased the playhouse of an old theatre, Mindre teatern. But at the beginning of the 20th century, the playhouse was rundown and in desperate need of renovation, there was lively debate in the press on the subject of refurbishing the national stage at Kungsträdgården. Many different kinds of restoration were proposed, but King Oscar II was not satisfied any of the suggestions. Instead, the decision was made to completely tear down the old theatre building and to build a new, bigger, fresher. From the 1850s onwards, Stockholm as a city and as Swedens definitive capital had changed considerably as had its centre, Fredrik Lilljekvist was appointed head architect, and on February 18,1908 the national stages new theatre building at Nybroplan opened with Strindbergs new play Mäster Olof
