FI-44562: Vantaa, Finland

Postcrossing ID: FI-44562
Date Sent: 24 July 2006
Date Received: 5 August 2006
Days Travelled:  12
Distance Travelled:  8,335 km 

Within the first two months of my original Postcrossing membership in the summer of 2006, I received eight postcards from the wonderful country of Finland.  This is because it’s the birthplace of Postcrossing.  In fact, Finland has even released a set of stamps in honor of the website; something repeated only by Belarus and Guernsey.  Anyway, this was my first postcard I received from Finland and my second Postcrossing card overall.  I love the pastoral views.

Sender Anneli lives in Vantaa, Finland’s fourth most populous city and a neighbor to the capital of Helsinki.  In fact, the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport is located there.  While the community has only been called Vantaa since 1972 when it gained market town rights, the first mention of the area came back in 1351 when King Magnus II of Sweden granted salmon fishing rights on the river to an Estonian monastery.  At the time, it was called Helsinge and the later municipality was known as Helsingin maalaiskunta (“Helsinki River Commune”).  The rapids of the river were known as Helsingfors from which the current Swedish name of Helsinki came from.  The city is bilingual with Finnish and Swedish both being official languages.  It is the home of a major science center called Heureka as well as the Finnish Aviation Museum.  The Vantaa city museum is housed in the oldest railway station in the country, completed in 1861.