Guidebook to the First World War Fortifications
Over 300 fortifications structures built during the First World War have survived in the Helsinki region: trenches, machine-gun emplacements overgrown with moss and shelters quarried into the bedrock.
When the First World War began, there was an important Russian naval base at Kruunuvuorenselkä in Helsinki protected by the Sveaborg naval fortress, which had already been founded in the 18th century. Between 1914 and 1918, the fortress was expanded by constructing three concentric complexes of landward defences around Helsinki.
This guidebook presents the history of the fortress and some twenty fortifications sites in the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. They provide a good introduction to the landward defence zone of the Sveaborg Fortress.
First World War Fortifications in and around Helsinki. Guide to the Landward Defence Zone of the Sveaborg Fortress. Available at the Museum Shop, Sofiankatu 4 for EUR 25.
