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Aleksis Kiven muistopatsas | |
Aleksis Kivi Memorial front of theFinnish National Theatre | |
![]() Interactive map of Aleksis Kivi Memorial | |
| Location | Helsinki Railway Square |
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| Coordinates | 60°10′18.05″N024°56′38.08″E / 60.1716806°N 24.9439111°E /60.1716806; 24.9439111 |
| Designer | Wäinö Aaltonen |
| Material | Bronze |
| Completion date | 1939 |
| Website | Official website |
TheAleksis Kivi Memorial (Finnish:Aleksis Kiven muistopatsas) is a statue dedicated to the Finnish authorAleksis Kivi (1834–1872), designed and sculpted byWäinö Aaltonen.[1]
Unveiled on 10 October 1939, the bronze statue is located in theHelsinki Railway Square, in front of theFinnish National Theatre. The statue, along with most of Helsinki's public artwork, is owned and maintained by theHelsinki Art Museum.[1] The sculpture was originally chosen through a contest; Aaltonen's submission was originally a more abstractcubist piece, but the selection committee chose him with the caveat that he would redesign the statue to be more realistic in appearance.[citation needed]
The memorial depicts a complentative (even melancholic) Kivi sitting in a chair. On the chair are reliefs inspired by three of Kivi's works:Sydämeni laulu,Keinu andSeitsemän veljestä pakenee Impivaarasta. The back of the chair features two stanzas from his poem,Ikävyys ("Melancholy"):[note 1]
Mi ikävyys,
mi hämäryys sieluni ympär
kuin syksy-iltainen autiol maal?
Turha vaiva täällä,
turha ompi taistelo
ja kaikkisuus maailman, turha!
En taivasta
mä tahdo, en yötä Gehennan,
enp' enään neitosta syliini suo.
Osani vain olkoon:
tietämisen tuskast pois.
kaik' äänetön tyhjyys olkoon.What dreadness dear,
what gloaming gloom looms round my soul
like an autumn's eve in a barren land?
All here is vain,
the strife the struggle vain
the world's wide wholeness, vain!
No heav'nly joy
want I, no Gehennan midnight,
no maid e'er again in my arms shall I take.
My lot, be it e'er only:
away from the aches of knowing,
let all be the voiceless void.[note 1]