The Sibelius Monument (Finnish: ; Swedish: ) is a public art memorial to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, who died in 1957. Situated in Sibelius Park within the Töölö district of Helsinki, the monument is by the Finnish sculptor Eila Hiltunen, whose design— (originally Credo)—won a contentious, and therefore protracted, competition that the Sibelius Society of Finland held from 1961 to 1962. After five additional years of work by Hiltunen and her assistants, the completed monument received its unveiling at a ceremony on 7 September 1967, when the Sibelius Society donated it to the City of Helsinki. As with other items in the city's art collection, it is managed and curated by the Helsinki Art Museum.
The monument comprises two distinct elements, each installed on granite natural to the terrain. The first, original to Hiltunen's proposal, is an abstract cluster of 569 acid-resistant stainless steel pipes, decoratively textured and welded together in an undulating pattern; visitors can stand within the resulting cavity. Hiltunen intended the cluster, which measures and weighs , to symbolically evoke Sibelius's music. Nevertheless, observers have tended to find it representational of an organ or of the Finnish landscape, such as its birch woodlands and shore reeds. Although Hiltunen did not design to be a sound sculpture, the pipe cluster can generate sounds due to wind, rain, and echoing voices and birdsong. The monument's second element, which the society required Hiltunen to add as a figurative concession to critics of her abstract approach, is a high-relief portrait of Sibelius in his mid-forties, cast of acid-resistant stainless steel and framed by three free-form shards. Because the two elements were pickled and passivated, the monument has neither patinated nor corroded over time.
Despite the polarized figurative–abstract discourse that accompanied commissioning, the Sibelius Monument has become one of the most recognized sights of the Helsinki cityscape and ranks among Finland's most visited tourist attractions. It is Hiltunen's most famous work and is credited with helping to modernize Finland's then-conservative, male-dominated art scene. In addition, the Finnish state has utilized the Sibelius Monument as a tool of cultural diplomacy, for example by donating Hiltunen's studies to UNESCO in 1967 and the United Nations Headquarters in 1983.
History Background In the 1930s, the City of Helsinki developed a green space on the shores of as Humala Park, which it renamed as Sibelius Park in November 1945, in honor of the composer Jean Sibelius, who turned eighty on 8 December. Plans were made the next year to add a statue or bust of the composer to the park, but the initiative remained dormant until Sibelius died on 20 September 1957. Ten days later, Finland honored the composer with a state funeral at Helsinki Cathedral, followed by a funeral procession to Ainola, his home in Järvenpää. The Sibelius Society of Finland was founded on 7 December of the same year, its mission being the curation of the composer's legacy and promotion of his oeuvre.
Sculpture competition
In late December 1959, the Sibelius Society invited Finnish sculptors to participate in a competition. The rules stipulated that entries should convey both the personality and music of the composer, which allowed for figurative and abstract solutions. First prize paid 750,000 Finnish markka, second 500,000, and third 300,000; the jury could also recommend redeeming up to two works, for 150,000 markka each. The society's board, however, would make the final decision on the commissioning contract.
First round: Hiltunen places sixth; Credo purchased
Eila Hiltunen had pioneered sculptural welding in Finland in the late 1950s, and by the time of the Sibelius monument competition, she had obtained notable public art commissions with ('Underwater'; 1960, Tampere) and ('Copper Construction'; 1961, Helsinki). She entered the competition with Credo (1961), an abstract work that depicted Sibelius's music as a welded cluster of untextured pipes, four of which extended downward as supports; inside the resulting cavity was a tangle of criss-crossing rods and spheres, which was to double as an altar for wreaths. The lack of a pedestal would also allow the public to stand within the completed structure. Hiltunen cited various inspirations, ranging from a childhood dream and Böcklin's painting Isle of the Dead to pagodas and medieval churches.
The Sibelius Society, the , and the Finnish Association of Architects assembled the jury, which consisted of 10 members, of which one—Knud Nellemose of Denmark—was an international representative. The society received 50 proposals by the deadline on 25 May 1961. On 9 June, the jury announced its decision, awarding Toivo Jaatinen first prize for his figurative–abstract hybrid, ('Master Composer'). Harry Kivijärvi took second prize and third. In addition, the jury recommended that the society redeem three (not two) proposals—those by , , and as a supernumerary acquisition Hiltunen's sixth-place Credo, which the press had nicknamed "organ pipes". Of the six, only Jaatinen and Renvall had sculpted the composer; like Hiltunen, Räsänen had submitted an abstract solution, while Kivijärvi and Peitso had both based their designs on a group of figures. The society's board was dissatisfied with all entries but believed the six aforementioned submissions merited an opportunity for refinement. In lieu of a commissioning contract, it mandated an unplanned second round, to which it invited the six sculptors.
Second round: Hiltunen's Passio Musicae takes first
For the second round, the finalists could either refine their initial proposals or compose something new; however, the society clarified its preference that designs include a figurative depiction of Sibelius. Hiltunen chose to evolve Credo into ('Passion for Music'; 1961–62). Relative to its predecessor, the pipe cluster of stands on one leg fewer and undulates, conveying movement; moreover, its pipes are decoratively textured and, to manipulate light and shadow, cut with fissures. Hiltunen credited the late-medieval Milan Cathedral—which she encountered while in the Italian city to plan her 1962 solo exhibition there—with helping her to refine her proposal, transforming the "cupboard"-esque Credo into something "Gothic". She also replaced the tangle of rods and spheres with a plaque that included Sibelius's profile in silver inlay. Kivijärvi and Peitso also opted to develop their initial entries, while Jaatinen, Räsänen, and Renvall submitted new designs.
For the second round, the jury was differently constituted, comprising 13 members. The number of international representatives was increased to three, with Nellemose joined by the sculptors of Italy and of Poland. At the announcement ceremony on 17 September 1962, the jury unanimously awarded Hiltunen first place, with Peitso second and Renvall third. However, it divided on the question of whether the Sibelius Society should commission without first having Hiltunen modify her proposal to include a more prominent figurative depiction of the composer. The seven art jury members from fields related to the arts favored commissioning as is; they jointly cited as the competition's most original and high-quality entry and stated their belief that it had the potential to become a compelling monument. In an interview with the Finnish-language newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Hiltunen addressed the "organ pipes" moniker, asserting that she had never thought of an organ or any other musical instrument when designing her proposal; rather, she had sought to express abstractly the idea of music itself.
Several notable individuals spoke to the press in support of Hiltunen. Nellemose commented that the abstract design was in the spirit of the era and should not be combined with a figurative element, while Minguzzi thought that, upon the realization of , Finland would achieve worldwide fame. Sibelius's five daughters expressed their joint belief that Hiltunen's work was "perfectly suited to reflect our father and his music". They reasoned that because Sibelius had never liked his own works to be explained, he probably too would not have wanted his own figure in the monument—rather, he would have trusted an artist's abstract vision. The Sibelius scholar and pianist Erik Tawaststjerna thought Hiltunen had captured the forward-looking, absolute nature of the composer's music and hoped she would be commissioned. The Sibelius Society's board, however, disagreed, deciding that was not a satisfactory solution, because it did not sufficiently depict the composer himself and the estimated of stainless steel piping would cost double the available budget of 1 million markka. Rather than commission Hiltunen, the board appointed a committee to study the matter further.
Public debate, figurative concession, and commission
The competition generated extensive public comment, which Hiltunen—who reported receiving hate mail—characterized as a "downright psychotic". Advocates of the figurative approach described as a "tin can" and the "work of a madwoman", complained that its most evident musical connection was to an instrument for which Sibelius had written very little, and critiqued the choice of welded metal as beneath the dignity of a national hero (unlike chiseled stone or cast bronze). Others wrote that would dishonor Sibelius's memory and disgrace the country. Illustrative of the figurative–abstract fault line was a series of essays in the Swedish-language newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet, in which the conductor and composer Simon Parmet criticized Hiltunen's non-representational design, while the art critic Erik Kruskopf defended it.
The committee's final meeting occurred on 13 November 1962, with both radio and television reporters in attendance. Although a majority of members voted in Hiltunen's favor, it ruled that to continue, she must add to her design a more substantial figurative portrait of Sibelius—a concession to 's critics. In response to Hiltunen's inquiry, the committee recommended that she depict Sibelius in his forties or fifties—that is, accomplished but still creatively active. On 24 June 1963, Hiltunen showed the society a scale model of her proposed high-relief portrait of Sibelius, cast in stainless steel; the society approved and commissioned Hiltunen shortly thereafter.
Construction
Although the Sibelius Society had hoped to dedicate the Sibelius Monument in time for the centennial of the composer's birth in December 1965, the protracted competition put the project behind schedule. Hiltunen first made studies in stainless steel, and she completed a 1:5 scale miniature, as well as full-scale partial models, in the summer of 1964. She worked at the same unheated, poorly-ventilated industrial hall in Lauttasaari where, years earlier, Aimo Tukiainen had made his equestrian statue of Field Marshal Gustaf Mannerheim. The stainless steel sheets came from the Ugine works in France and were first shaped into tubes at the factory in the Korso district of Vantaa before being transported by truck to Lauttasaari. A 21-year-old tradesman, Emil Kukkonen, assisted the artist in welding the pipes together into 14 components to be assembled on-site in Sibelius Park.