Hietaniemi cemetery, Lutheran cemetery in Lapinlahti, Finland.
Hietaniemi Cemetery lies mainly in Helsinki's Lapinlahti quarter and partly in Etu-Töölö, on ground rising from Lapinlahdentie toward Hietaniemenkatu. It comprises the Old Cemetery, the New Cemetery, the Hietaniemi Area, the Guard Cemetery and the Urn Grove, the last north of Hietaniemenkatu. Two Lutheran chapels stand on the grounds: Theodor Höijer's old chapel of 1872 and Albert Nyberg's new chapel of 1933, beside a crematorium.
The cemetery was founded in 1829, when the Kampin cemetery in central Helsinki became too cramped. The magistrate decided on 27 February 1828 to place it by the Lapinlahti shore, and it was consecrated on 22 October 1829. The New Cemetery was consecrated in 1864, and the Hietaniemi area, built on sand dredged from the sea, opened in 1931. Blocks 40 and 41 were reserved as a war grave area in 1939.
The cemetery's name, Hietaniemi, means "sand cape" in Finnish, after the headland where it lies. The Artists' Hill gathers the graves of painters, sculptors and writers, among them architect Alvar Aalto, painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela and sculptor Eila Hiltunen, creator of the Sibelius Monument. The Statesmen's Grove and the Finnish Guard cemetery lie nearby.
The main sections—Old Cemetery, New Cemetery and Hietaniemi Area—form one continuous ground bounded by Lapinlahdentie in the south, Hietaniemenkatu in the north and Mechelininkatu in the east. The Guard Cemetery lies separately near the west end of Lapinlahdentie, and Urn Grove is north of Hietaniemenkatu. The Hietaniemi Area was raised with 200,000 cubic metres of sand dredged near Pihlajasaari, held by retaining walls up to 7–8 metres high.
The catacomb network confirmed in the 2010s lies beneath the Orthodox cemetery, which is one of four separate cemeteries in the wider Hietaniemi district alongside the Jewish, Islamic and St. Nicholas cemeteries. The Lutheran grounds themselves have no catacombs.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,695 contributors worldwide.