{"id":3290,"date":"2021-01-04T15:56:55","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T13:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helsinginpuistot.fi\/hp\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2025-06-26T11:27:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T08:27:35","slug":"hesperianpuisto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/hesperianpuisto\/","title":{"rendered":"Hesperian­puisto Hesperia Park<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hesperia Park and Hesperia Esplanade form an impressive green area where there were once factories and private villas beside the T\u00f6\u00f6l\u00f6nlahti bay. A 2.2-kilometre recreational path circles the bay and is also accessible the entire way by wheelchair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name Hesperia is connected to the romantic trend in the early 1800s. Hesperia was the poetic name used by the ancient Greeks to describe the mythical lands far off to the west. Hesperos refers to the evening star, and in Greek mythology the Hesperides were nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world. Hercules is said to have collected golden apples from their garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hesperia Park boasts many tree species, including crabapple trees, cherry trees, alders, oaks, poplars, elms, maples, birches, horse chestnuts, ash trees, lindens and a delightful sweet  bird cherry. A rare \u201cKatherine Havemeyer\u201d lilac was also found in the park. Although the shrub later died, it was successfully micropropogated and new shoots are growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next to the lilacs is a play area. A rich assortment of lilacs once grew alongside the main road, Mannerheimintie, until the city\u2019s wild rabbits destroyed some of them in 2008 and 2009. New saplings have since been planted, and the shrubs in the park have been protected by wire fencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Summer moments beside the bay Erja Lehto<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hesperia Park is used for all kinds of healthy exercise, including group aerobics Erja Lehto<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A rare \u201cKatherine Havemeyer\u201d lilac was found in the park in 2006. It has since been successfully micropropogated and new shoots are growing Laura Hauta-aho<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ornamental apple trees in full blossom in early June Satu Tegel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Honeysuckle in Hesperia Park Elina Nummi<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The amphitheatre outside the Finnish National Opera is a popular hangout and stage for small productions Elina Nummi<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On the edge of the park by Mannerheimintie is a statue of Larin Paraske<\/a><\/em> (1833\u20131904), a central figure in Finnish folk poetry. The statue was designed by Alpo Sailo (1877\u20131955) in 1936 for the Kalevala building, which was never realised. The statue was finally erected in Hesperia Park in 1949.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the bay side of the park is a serpentine sculpture entitled Opera Ophidia<\/a><\/em>. The work consists of steel netting filled with rocks. The sculpture was made by the artist group Ossi Somma, Reijo Paavilainen and Pertti M\u00e4kinen and was part of a park exhibition commemorating Helsinki as one of the European Cities of Culture in 2000. It is derived from a work created for the group\u2019s 20th anniversary exhibition in 1999, where the serpentine form was shown from above. The exhibition toured around Finland and the contents of the netting changed accordingly: in Pori, the work was filled with rocks, in Rovaniemi with ice and in Alaj\u00e4rvi with peat. Opera Ophidia attracted a lot of attention at the T\u00f6\u00f6l\u00f6nlahti sculpture exhibition, especially among children. After the exhibition, the work was left in place indefinitely, because dismantling would have meant its destruction. It is still owned by the artist group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between Opera Ophidia and the bay is a rock with a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom memorial plaque. The plaque is dedicated to world peace and is inscribed with the date on which it was unveiled, 13 November 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Finnish National Opera was designed by architects Hyv\u00e4m\u00e4ki, Karhunen and Parkkinen and completed in 1993 in the northern section of the park. Nearby is the fine-dining Restaurant T\u00f6\u00f6l\u00f6nranta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hesperia Park and Hesperia Esplanade form an impressive green area where there were once factories […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[253],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-toolonlahti","tag-parks-sights-in-helsinki"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/hp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/etela-hesperianpuisto.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3290"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12804,"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions\/12804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vihreatsylit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}