Matthew Patay's
Note of the Month
October 2003
Map and flag images provided by Graphic Maps
This month's featured note
is from Finland.
The denomination is 50 Markkaa and the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
(SCWPM) Number is P-118.
The note is dated 1986 but was issued in (1991). Finland is currently under the Euro monetary system.
_f.JPG)
(obverse)
The banknote is black on red-brown and multicolored under print.
Alvar Aalto (1898 to 1976)
is at left.
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The following information
was obtained from:
http://www.hut.fi/~mniskane/aalto/runko.htm
Alvar Aalto
1898-1976
Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was one of the first major architects of the modern
movement to emerge in Scandinavia
and Finland, and he remains one of the most individual and poetic masters of
functionalism in the architecture of our time. Since 1930 he has become widely
known outside his native Finland for, in particular, his imaginative use of his
country's traditional building material, timber, and for his work post-war
planning and reconstruction, as in such new towns as Säynätsalo.
Aalto was born at Kuortane in Finland in 1898. After attending school locally he
studied at the Helsinki Polytechnic, from which he graduated in architecture in
1921. While still a student he had designed a house for his parents at Alajärvi,
and his first work after qualifying was for the Industrial Exposition at Tampere
in 1922. Two years later Aalto married Aino Marsio, also a qualified architect;
although she disclaimed any credit for her part in projects from that time, in
fact Aino Aalto worked jointly with her husband for twenty-five years. In
addition to this architectural collaboration, Aino Aalto directed from 1942 the
Artek Company which had been set up in 1935 for the manufacture of furniture
design by Aalto. Following the death of Aino in 1949, Alvar Aalto married Elissa
Mäkiniemi, who qualified as an architect in 1949.
Aalto's wide field of activity ranges from designing furniture and glassware to
architecture and painting. Since Aalto is essentially a national architect - but
with an international reputation - the majority of his executed projects are to
be found in his native country Finland.
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_b.JPG)
(reverse)
The Finlandia Hall building, Helsinki, Finland, is located at center. The building was
designed by Alvar Aalto.
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The following
information was obtained from:
http://www.hut.fi/~mniskane/aalto/build6.htm
The Finlandia Hall is the
only building of Alvar Aalto's city plan for central Helsinki to have been
completed. Its site and silhouette are planned as part of the row of cultural
buildings that was to have stood on the shore of Töölö bay. The much debated
shining white marble facades of the Finlandia Hall dominate the surrounding
terraces and beyond. The main spaces of the building are the concert-hall and
foyer, situated on the first floor, the chamber-music room and the restaurant.
The acoustics of the concert-hall were problematic from the very beginning. The
acoustic slatted roof had to be covered over to improve audibility. The great
foyer of the main hall is dominated by a window-wall with a view on to Töölö
bay, and two staircases lead to the upper balcony. The marble-covered space is
also the entrance for the chamber-music room. The colors of the main
concert-hall are dark blue and white, those of the chamber-music room dark red
and white. To the south of the main building, and connected to it, is a
subsequently constructed conference wing. Together they form a functional whole,
but externally they are differentiated by the chamfered surface of the
conference wing's facade.
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