J. K. Paasikivi

Juho Kusti Paasikivi (1870–1956), the seventh president of the Republic of Finland, was deeply rooted in Lahti. He was the son of a local cloth merchant and in his youth attended the village elementary school. He subsequently worked as a teacher at the local coeducational school and as a lawyer and chairman of the Board of Trade in Lahti.

A few years after Paasikivi’s death, plans were made in Lahti for a memorial statue to the former president. An invited competition was held for the sculpture’s design, and the winner was sculptor Veikko Leppänen, who also designed the equestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim in Lahti. The monument was unveiled on 17 September 1961 and was the first statue erected in Paasikivi’s honour in Finland.

Artwork on the map

In Paasikivenpuisto park, on the side of Hollolankatu street. – Paasikivenpuisto, Lahti.
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