Fodor's Expert Review Senate Square

The Senate Square is the heart of neoclassical Helsinki, dominated by the Lutheran Cathedral. On the square's west side is one of the main buildings of Helsinki University, and up the hill is the university library. On the east side is the pale yellow Council of State, completed in 1822 and once the seat during Russian rule of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland's Imperial Senate. At the lower end of the square, stores and restaurants now occupy former merchants' homes. The harmony of the three buildings flanking this spacious square exemplifies one of the purest styles of European architecture, as envisioned and designed by German architect Carl Ludvig Engel.