In the forests of Helsinki are kilometres of fortifications and ruins, built to protect Suomenlinna during World War 1. The building pictured above is called a "counterscarp" and it's approximately twelve kilometres away from Suomenlinna.
With my military background, and cooperation with and encouragement from the Helsinki City Museum, for the last twenty years I've been studying and researching the planning and construction of these fortifications.
As well, as I'm a social anthropologist, I've been collecting stories about those who built them.
"The preservation and protection of these artefacts maintain a direct link from our history to our everyday lives. Our heritage isn’t something that’s merely bricks and mortar and guns. It’s the story that these things encapsulate and tell us."
The forests and wildlife of Helsinki are slowly reclaiming these fortifications and ruins, they loom out of the forest like unmarked headstones of a long ago battle that was never fought.
