ABOUT THE MEMORIAL:
The following information about the memorial is from the Taide Museo website (
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"In 1928 a competition was arranged for a memorial to Zacharias Topelius. The competition was won by Gunnar Finne's with his entry 'Fact and Fable', which was later unveiled in 1932.
'Fact and Fable' consists of two allegorical female figures: 'Fact' with the flame of truth on her palm, and 'Fable' with the crown-headed bird of fable resting on her fingers. The figures face opposite directions: 'Fact' looks down the Esplanadi park while 'Fable's' gaze is turned to the sidewalk off Pohjoisesplanadi'. The figures are formed in a way which accents non-material features, and the imagery is refined and pure. The aim has been to create an illusory atmosphere in both the maidens' figures and in the balancing composition.
'Fact and Fable' inspired much heated debate at the time of winning the competition, which was not without a political dimension involving the question of the relationship between the nation's two languages, Finnish and Swedish. Finne's proposal was a considerable disappointment to those who expected a memorial which would correspond to the realistic spirit of the author's own times. This is why Maila Talvio initiated a plan for another sculpture which sought to have Ville Vallgren's work 'Topelius as a storyteller' from 1909 cast in bronze and unveiled before the unveiling of Finne's work.
'Fact and Fable' had been commissioned by the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland but Vallgren's work was financed by donations from the public. Even schools and school children were recruited to sell postcards depicting Vallgren's works. As a result, Vallgren's piece 'Topelius and the children' was unveiled six months before 'Fact and Fable' in 1932.
'Fact and Fable' is cast in bronze and its pedestal is granite. The female figures are approximately 1.8 metres and the pedestal 1.4 metres high. The pedestal contains the text 'Zacharias Topelius' and a portrait medallion of the author."
ABOUT THE MAN:
"Zachris Topelius (14 January 1818 – 12 March 1898) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, journalist, historian, and rector of the University of Helsinki who wrote novels related to Finnish history in Swedish.
Quite early in his career he began to distinguish himself as a lyric poet, with the three successive volumes of his Heather Blossoms (1845–54). The earliest of his historical romances was The Duchess of Finland, published in 1850. He was also editor-in-chief of the Helsingfors Gazette from 1841 to 1860. In 1878, Topelius was allowed to withdraw from his professional duties, but this did not sever his connection with the university; it gave him, however, more leisure for his abundant and various literary enterprises. Of all the multifarious writings of Topelius, in prose and verse, that which has enjoyed the greatest popularity is his Tales of a Barber-Surgeon, episodes of historical fiction from the days of Gustavus II. Adolphus to those of Gustavus III., treated in the manner of Sir Walter Scott; the five volumes of this work appeared at intervals between 1853 and 1867. Topelius attempted the drama also, with most success in his tragedy of Regina von Emmeritz (1854). Topelius aimed at the cultivation of a strong Finnish patriotism.
Together with the composer Friedrich Pacius he wrote the libretto (in the style of Romantic nationalism) to the first Finnish opera: Kung Karls jakt. Topelius initially thought of writing a trivial entertainment, but having heard extracts from the opera project at a concert in 1851, he realized that Pacius was writing a grand opera on the theme of salvation, following the early Romantic style of Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz (1821) and Oberon (1826). Topelius wrote the libretto in Swedish (though it was translated later by others), but its subject is emphatically Finnish. He also wrote the libretto for Prinsessan av Cypern, set by Fredrik Pacius and Lars-Erik Larsson.
Many of his works employed esoterical allegories harking to ancient mysteries and perhaps rosicrucian and alchemical themes, but on the other hand some of his short works examined the effects of the strong industrialisation of Finnish society."
--Wikipedia (
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