Take a tour of Helsinki's funkiest and most glamorous toilets
By Tuomo Väliaho
An outhouse is a favourite place for many city dwellers. Some of us are reminded of where grandmother lived in the countryside. For others, a visit to the privy at the summer cottage is a sure sign that summer is finally here.
It is also possible to get into the spirit of things in Helsinki - without leaving the centre of the city. In the yard of the Ruiskumestari building of the Helsinki City Museum there is a genuine Kruunuhaka outhouse.
Not even the most die-hard Helsinki resident need suffer withdrawal symptoms while doing his business. The outhouse is built of brick, and covered in plaster. Surrounded by apartment buildings, the sound of traffic is all around.
Four outhouses stand next to each other.
"One of them is available for those visiting the building, when the museum is open. There is little use for it. The museum is small, and people do not spend hours on end there", says Marjukka Sihvola.
"The outhouse dates back to 1905. At that time there was still debate whether or not to build water closets or dry privies for Helsinki. At one time, water closets were banned, and those who built one faced a fine."
There are many strange toilets in Helsinki - one only need look around a bit to find them. These include historical curiosities, such as a restaurant set up inside a former public convenience, or the porno-themed wallpaper of the Koko Theatre.
"This used to be the Alfa Romeo cinema, where porn films were shown. When we refurbished the building as a theatre, we found rolls of film, photographs, and posters underneath the stage. Most of them went to the Finnish Film Archives, but we kept some of them", says theatre director Anna Veijalainen.
The wallpaper of the men's toilet is simple antique pornography. On the women's side there are pictures from other films, as well as of performances in the theatre. There are even photos of the Bader-Meinhof terrorists.
There is no actual hard-core porn on the walls.
"There is some innocence in the pictures. Bottoms bounce in flowery meadows, and that is just pretty", Veijalainen smiles.
Toilets are places where the genders remain segregated.
It is not the done thing to barge in through the wrong door - although sometimes in restaurants, women might trespass on the men' side.
As a result, many toilet oddities will be unfamiliar to those of the other gender. Few men know that there is the sound of birdsong in the women's toilet of the restaurant Kosmos, or that the advertising agency that paid for the ladies' toilets of the Kom Theatre engraved the following sentence on the WC-seat: "What all kinds of s**t we end up sponsoring".
Correspondingly, few women have seen the luscious lips of the urinals of the men's room in the Stockholm Diskotek.
Toilet wall graffiti has been seen as a part of urban culture, although owners of toilets do not necessarily like the idea. The restaurant Kuurna is an exception, however, offering customers chalk for the purpose.
"Everyone writes on the walls anyway, so we have made it a bit easier", says Antto Melasniemi, one of the owners.
"It is not as boring to sit, when you have something to read. It also works as a feedback box."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 4.3.2006
TUOMO VÄLIAHO / Helsingin Sanomat
tuomo.valiaho@hs.fi
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| 7.3.2006 - THIS WEEK |
 Take a tour of Helsinki's funkiest and most glamorous toilets |
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