VR Group
Päärautatieasema
Eliel 150

Starting point

The 150^th birthday of the architect of Finland’s Central railway station, Eliel Saarinen, was in the 20^th of august 2023. This special moment was to be honored in a special way with the citizens. But how?

Solution

The Central railway station is a landmark every Finn knows and up in its tower are located the most viewed bells in Finland. Throughout its existence it has only lacked one function: its bells have never been rung. Now if ever was the time to celebrate Saarinen’s birthday and give the bells a sound.

This mission was given to Artlab Studio’s melodic genius, Tuomas Skopa. For inspiration the names Sibelius and Merikanto were mentioned – the same people Saarinen listened to while he was designing.

Results

A straightforward planning and production brought an audience of a million. The ringing of the station’s bells appeared in national news broadcasts and countless articles – not to forget social media content and coffee table conversations. These signs proved that we succeeded in our target to cross the news threshold by doing something extraordinary.

The event was noted week earlier for example in Iltalehti, Iltasanomat, Helsingin Sanomat, Yle and MTV. At the zero hour, the event was watched by – in addition to thousands of people – several cameras from the earlier mentioned companies: they captured the moment live on air. In the interviews the celebration was to be linked to the future strategy of the station. Additionally, we raised awareness of developing the future of the beating heart of Helsinki’s architectural gem.