Renovated Helsinki park unveils 58-centimetre Moomin statue

A renovated Tove Jansson Park has opened in Helsinki’s Katajanokka district, featuring a 58-centimetre Moomin statue, Yle reports.

The park’s project manager and landscape architect, Stefan Eklöf, said he was delighted with the result. The opening was delayed from spring by work including the restoration of a wall and stonework.

The renovation included new surfaces, benches, lighting, plantings and a dog park. A playground with a mysterious underwater theme has also been built, including a shell-shaped climbing structure and a winding slide. The rubbish bins are bright pink.

Jansson is known internationally above all as the creator of the Moomin characters. Many tourists had previously looked for an attraction connected to the Moomins in the park named after her, but found none.

The renewed park is also intended to present Jansson’s art and world more broadly. Eklöf said the playground was inspired by adventure, laughter and play, and that the aim was to create a park of which Jansson would have been proud.

The park, located southeast of the Uspenski Cathedral, was named Tove Jansson Park in 2014 to mark the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth. The Jansson family lived on Luotsikatu in Katajanokka during Tove Jansson’s childhood and youth.

Sophia Jansson, Jansson’s niece and chair of the board of Moomin Characters, the company overseeing the rights to the Moomin characters, said she considered the park successful. She highlighted playfulness, joy and difference as themes that her aunt valued and embodied in her life.

Helsinki previously described the statue as being of a size that could be hugged. Created by Matti Kalkamo, it is 58 centimetres tall.

Sophia Jansson said she might not be the right person to judge the statue’s size because she was not involved in the day-to-day planning process. However, she said it was important that the statue had been produced under Moomin Characters’ close supervision, with correct proportions and precise models.

She said people always had strong views about how large a Moomin character should be, including whether it should be human-sized or smaller. The location, material, usability and financial constraints also played a major role in determining the final result, she said.