The Swedish era
Sweden started building the fortress in 1748. At that time Finland was still a part of the Swedish kingdom.
The fortress was built to serve as the main base for the armed forces in Finland. It was built on six islands, and it took about 40 years to build it. When it was complete, its shipyard was one of the biggest in the world. During the Swedish era the fortress was called Sveaborg, "the fortress of Sweden".

Building of the fortress ==>

The Russian era
The Russians easily took Helsinki in 1808 and Sveaborg was surrendered to Russian forces. After that there was a long period of peace until the Crimean War started 1854. This bombardment of Sveaborg lasted 47 hours and the fortress was badly damaged. After the Crimean War extensive restoration work was begun at Sveaborg. The Russians ruled Sveaborg (Viapori in Finnish) all in all for 110 years.

<== Russian era of the fortress

The Finnish era
Finland gained independence (from Russia) in 1917 and soon after that the Swedish name of the fortress was officially changed to the Finnish Suomenlinna, "castle of Finland". It is still known as Sveaborg to Finns who speak Swedish as their first language.
Suomenlinna was turned over to civilian administration in 1973. The military was still present on the islands, as part of the local community.

King’s Gate ==>

Suomenlinna today
The 250-year-old Suomenlinna Fortress is a popular tourist attraction nowadays. At the same time it is a suburb of Helsinki. There are about 900 permanent inhabitants on the islands. The Naval Academy of Finland is located on one of the islands. As a monument to military architecture, Suomenlinna is unique in the world. The Fortress was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage in 1991.

<== Suomenlinna today, Helsinki in the background