Then and now in photos: Helsinki 50 years after the Cold War summit

In August 1975, Helsinki found itself in the global spotlight. Leaders from 35 countries gathered in Finland’s capital to sign the Helsinki Final Act, a landmark agreement in the Cold War era that helped lay the groundwork for dialogue between East and West. It was one of Finland’s most significant diplomatic moments, launching what would become the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Fifty years later, Finland again welcomes representatives from across the OSCE region to mark the anniversary. While the political landscape has shifted in countless ways, the values agreed upon in 1975 around cooperation and human rights remain deeply relevant today. The 2025 commemorative events reflect on those ideals and their enduring role in European security and diplomacy.

To honour the moment, we’re stepping into a visual time machine. These ten sets of photographs pair archival images from 1975 with new ones taken in the exact same locations this year. Some scenes are nearly unrecognisable; others appear untouched. Together, they tell the half-century story of urban transformation in Helsinki.

1. Porthaninkatu and Toinen linja, Kallio

From below street level, a deep construction site with rocky terrain and scaffolding fills the foreground, while tall buildings and a crane rise in the background.

Photo: unknown/Helsinki City Museum

A wide city view shows tall buildings at an intersection with tram tracks, pedestrians, a scooter rider and a distant green-domed cathedral beneath sunny skies.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

Construction at this busy Kallio corner foreshadowed the city’s underground future in 1975. The underground structures, like many in the network, were built to serve a dual purpose: metro transit and civil defence, functioning as bomb shelters if needed. Above ground, Kallio has transformed over five decades: from a working-class district into a more expensive and trendy neighbourhood.

2. Tervasaari shoreline

Two people sit on a grassy shore, facing a cityscape with buildings, cranes and industrial structures across the water.

Photo: Eeva Rista/Helsinki City Museum

An sunny scene shows sailboats, square floating objects and buildings across the water, with a gravel path and grass in the foreground.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

A couple sits beside the water in 1975, with coal piles and the Hanasaari power plant behind them. Today, the view is cleaner and greener: Helsinki Energy (Helen) stopped using coal in Hanasaari in 2023, marking a major step toward a carbon-neutral city.

3. Hakaniementori

Four workers with shovels pave the street in front of a multistorey building, with some actively working and others standing in the background.

Photo: unknown/Helsinki City Museum

An angled view of a city street shows a pedestrian crossing, bus stops, a metro sign and office buildings with company logos, all beneath an overcast sky.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

In 1975, the site at Hakaniementori was a bustling construction zone, part of Helsinki’s first metro digging works. The metro opened in 1982 with 17 stations and has since expanded to 30, stretching from Kivenlahti in the west to Mellunmäki and Vuosaari in the east.

4. Köydenpunojankatu and Kalevankatu, Kamppi

Railroad tracks run across a muddy foreground, while a road, parked cars and a varied cityscape with utility poles and an overcast sky fill the background.

Photo: unknown/Helsinki City Museum

An overcast city street intersection shows tram tracks, a motor scooter, tan apartments, a white hotel and wires stretching overhead.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

In the 1975 photo, the Valio building on Kalevankatu marks the spot where Nobel Prize–winning chemist Artturi Ilmari Virtanen once worked on groundbreaking food preservation methods. The location is now a hotel, and the surrounding area has been completely transformed. Kamppi’s harbour tracks have vanished, making way for a mix of housing, offices and cultural spaces.

5. Mariankatu, Kruununhaka

A man runs with a small dog along a cobblestone city street, with 1970s cars parked to the left and buildings with balconies lining the street behind.

Photo: Eeva Rista/Helsinki City Museum

Two men walk along a street lined with parked cars and colourful buildings; one wears a blazer and satchel, the other a camo jacket and jeans.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

This quiet stretch of Mariankatu still looks much the same as it did in the 1970s, with rows of historic buildings and a calm, residential feel. While cobblestones have been replaced with pavement, the overall atmosphere of Kruununhaka remains steady, more lived-in than polished, and slightly out of step with the pace of the city centre just a few blocks away. It’s a part of Helsinki where change happens slowly, if at all.

6. Pohjoisranta, looking toward Katajanokka

A black and white city scene shows a street with a pedestrian crossing and parked cars in the foreground, with brick buildings and an orthodox church in the background.

Photo: Eeva Rista/Helsinki City Museum

An eye-level shot shows a pedestrian crossing, signs and distant pedestrians, with a red boat and a strip of sea separating the viewer from brick buildings and a church.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

In 1975, parked cars lined the waterfront as Pohjoisranta served as a key route for traffic heading out of the city centre. Today, a bike path runs where the cars once stood, part of Helsinki’s broader transformation into a more cycling- and pedestrian-friendly city. Across the water, Uspenski Cathedral and the red-brick warehouses of Katajanokka remain a distinctive part of the skyline.

7. Kaisaniemenkatu near Rautatientori

A 1970s street scene shows buses, trams, cars and people waiting to cross in the foreground, with commercial buildings and a train station behind.

Photo: Eeva Rista/Helsinki City Museum

An urban scene shows intersecting roads and pedestrian crossings, a cobblestone square with benches and trees, and in the background parked buses, office buildings and a train station.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

Buses crowded Kaisaniemenkatu in 1975, the road thrumming with traffic and serving as a central conduit just outside Helsinki’s main station. The left-most building, constructed in 1967, was nicknamed Makkaratalo (the “Sausage House”) for the cylindrical concrete cantilever around the facade. During major renovations in 2005, there was an opportunity to remove the “sausage,” but it was instead marked for preservation due to its architectural and historical value. Originally designed with car ramps and rooftop parking, the building reflected a time when Helsinki was planning for a car-oriented future. Today, the ramps are gone, and the area has shifted toward wider sidewalks, bike lanes and pedestrian space.

8. Merihaka from Siltavuorenranta

Calm waters reflect city buildings in black and white, with an overturned boat and supported tree in the foreground, and a bridge, tall buildings and crane across the water.

Photo: Patrick Oras/Helsinki City Museum

A waterfront scene shows a gravel path beside a dock with buoys, facing grey buildings, a bridge, and a large pile of dirt and stone across the water.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

Merihaka’s striking concrete towers rise in this 1970s view, part of a distinctive housing project that stood apart from most of Helsinki’s more traditional neighbourhoods. Today, a new bridge has replaced the old one, with a tram line under construction along the shoreline to better link Merihaka with the rest of the city. The trail here is also a recent addition, part of a 15-kilometre loop that traces the city’s inner coastline.

9. Mannerheimintie, Kamppi

A black and white city street scene shows a wide empty road with cigarette ads along a construction site, varied buildings, a bus and a bare tree beneath a blue sky.

Photo: Kari Hakli/Helsinki City Museum

A city street scene shows a cobblestone street, tall buildings, trees and flower-filled planters lining the brick sidewalk.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

In 1975, this lot at the corner of Mannerheimintie and Bulevardi sat empty after a previous building had been demolished. Like many parts of central Helsinki in the postwar decades, the area was in transition, shaped by shifting plans for development. Today, it houses a modern office building and sits at a key junction between the city centre and Kamppi.

10. Finlandia Hall from Töölönlahti

A view across the water shows a modern white building reflected on the surface, with tree branches in the foreground and older buildings and a crane behind it.

Photo: Volker von Bonin/Helsinki City Museum

A view through leafy branches shows a bay with a city skyline across, featuring varied buildings, a steepled tower, a crane and a blue sky.

Photo: Emilia Kangasluoma

This view across Töölönlahti toward Finlandia Hall places us near the very heart of the OSCE story. Designed by Alvar Aalto, the white marble building hosted the historic summit in 1975 and continues to host major events today.

As Finland commemorates the 50th anniversary of the OSCE, Helsinki offers both a physical and symbolic backdrop: a place where diplomacy was once signed into history, and where everyday life continues to evolve.

Text by Tyler Walton, July 2025

Then and now in photos: Helsinki 50 years after the Cold War summit