Kamppi
Kamppi (
Swedish:
Kampen) is a district in the centre of
Helsinki, the capital of
Finland. The name originally referred to a small area known as the "Kamppi field" (see below), but according to the current official designation, "Kamppi" encompasses a much larger area with a population of 10,000 in
2004.
The heart of Kamppi is a part of the
Central Business District. However, in stark contrast to the other districts of central Helsinki, development in Kamppi was sporadic and the very centre of Kamppi remained entirely undeveloped until
2002.
The name "Kamppi" is derived from the Swedish word for battle,
"Kampen". Under
Russian rule in the
19th Century, Kamppi was mainly used as a
military area by Russian forces, with
barracks and training fields, which the name refers to. This so-called "Kamppi field" in the centre of Kamppi was also the location of a market run by
Jewish merchants from the late 19th Century until
1929 when it was shut down. A new pedestrian plaza on the same site, completed in
2005 as part of a recent redevelopment project, has been officially named "Narinkka" (Swedish: "Narinken") after the original name of the Jewish market.
The central
bus station of Helsinki is located in a modern terminal built entirely underground in Kamppi, and the
Helsinki railway station is located only a few hundred metres away. A popular destination in Kamppi is
Tennispalatsi, the largest cinema multiplex in Helsinki.
Since
August 2002, the centre of Kamppi has been occupied by the largest single
construction site in the history of Finland. The first phase of the project, the underground bus terminal, was opened to the public in
June 2005. Completed in
March 2006, the
Kamppi Center also houses high-quality apartments and a large shopping mall.
