Standing in one of the most central locations in Helsinki, between the Esplanade park and the Market Square, lives a statue that is very dear to Finns.
This monument has become so associated with Finnish success that it's the place for sporting victory celebrations, from javelin gold medals to ice hockey championships.
You're listening to Tall Stories, a monocle production brought to you by the team behind the Urbanist.
I'm Andrew Tuck.
In this episode, Petri Birzov tells the story of a recently restored icon of the Finnish capital.
Reaching a height of 5 meters, the statue of Harvis Amanda stands on Helsinki shore near the Market Square, in one of the city's most prominent and visible locations.
It depicts a mermaid risen from the sea, casting a furtive glance over her shoulder in a gesture of bidding farewell to the sea before starting a new life on land.
She stands on a platform of seaweed, surrounded by four majestic sea lions guarding the fountain in the middle of which the statue rises.
Hawis Amanda is hardly a tourist magnet, but for the locals it is one of Helsinki's most recognized landmarks.
On 30th of April each year, tens of thousands of people gather to witness a cherished ritual in which the university students place a white student hat on the statue's head, thus marking the official beginning of the 1st of May celebrations.
The event is broadcast live on national television.
Harvis Amanda also takes center stage if Finland manages to win a major international trophy, stay in ice hockey or the Eurovision Song Contest.
That is when the revelers jump into the statue's fountain and climb on top of her to give her a hug.
But Avis Amanda has not always enjoyed this level of popularity.
He was subject to controversy already.
When commissioned in 1908, Finland was still under Russian rule and would have to wait almost a decade before she first gained independence.
Helsinki's Swedish speaking liberal elite wanted the statue to reflect the city's ambitions to become a cosmopolitan and liberal city with a distinctly Western and European identity.
That's why they commissioned Swedish speaking sculptor Will Levalgren, who had spent most of his career in Paris and was heavily influenced by the French Art Nouveau style.
Waldgren modeled the statue after two Parisian women and its subtle elegance has a distinctly French feel, especially when compared with much of the Finnish art of the period, which was influenced by the birth of Finnish nationalism and artistic vernacular.
The so called Fenumans, whose goal was to emphasize the nascent Finnish identity, saw Valgren's work as too French, which was not too far off the mark.