This Day, That Year – May 27

This day in history we featue the Linnanmäki. An amusement park in Helsinki, Finland was opened on this day in 1950.

Trivia – Linnanmäki 

Linnanmäki is owned by the non-profit Children’s Day Foundation, which operates the park in order to raise funds for Finnish child welfare work. In 2019, the foundation donated €4.5 million, and so far has donated a total of over €120 million to this cause. Linnanmäki is the oldest and most popular amusement park in Finland. It has many rides of different types and sizes, and of the all Nordic amusement parks, Linnanmäki has the most rides in relation to the number of visitors. It also has other attractions, including arcades, games, kiosks, restaurants and an outdoor stage on which different performers appear in the summer. The park is open from spring to autumn and is visited by over a million guests annually. In August 2006, Linnanmäki received its fifty-millionth visitor.

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In 1950, six Finnish child welfare organisations leased an area from the city of Helsinki for an initial period of three years in the middle of a recreational area consisting of two parks, where they set up an amusement park. The city extended the lease in 1953 and leased 5.37 hectares for the amusement park. In accordance with the city plan approved in 1956, the amusement park area was expanded to more than 7.2 ha. In 1957, the welfare organisations established the non-profit Children’s Day Foundation, which continues to maintain and develop the amusement park. Today, the site covers 7.5 hectares. Linnanmäki is built on a hill and derives its name from Vesilinnanmäki, the name locals gave to the hilly area in the early 20th century since it had two water towers, built in 1876 and 1938, respectively. The water towers are no longer in operation and were disconnected from the grid in 2003. However, the towers are protected by the zoning plan of the city and cannot be demolished. In the future, it is hoped that the towers will be used year-round to support amusement park activities. The older, angular tower near the perimeter of the amusement park—the oldest water tower in Helsinki—currently houses the park’s maintenance and storage facilities, while the newer, cylindrical tower dominating the park and its wider surroundings houses an indoor roller coaster called Linnunrata eXtra. Linnanmäki currently has 43 rides, along with many other non-ride based attractions. The most notable ride in the park is Vuoristorata, a wooden roller coaster, opened in 1951. It is the most recognisable symbol of the park, and was one of the first permanent rides to be built at the park. Technically the oldest ride at Linnanmäki is Karuselli (a carousel), which was built in Germany in 1896 and has been at Linnanmäki since 1954. Linnanmäki has eight roller coasters. Other major rides include three tower rides, a ferris wheel, a river rapids ride and spinning rides. The park also has a selection of family and kiddie rides. Admission to the park is free, and most of the rides can only be ridden with the possession of a ride ticket, or the more popular wristband, which allows the wearer unlimited access to all of the park’s rides for the entire day. As of 2013, the wristband costs the same for each customer, regardless of height. Linnanmäki also hosts various events and festivals every year, such as the popular iik!week Horror Festival and traditional Carnival of Light, which are both held in the autumn.

Source – Wikipedia