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Following a devastating fire and the city's appointment as Finland's capital in 1812, Helsinki was totally rebuilt in a style befitting its new status: a grid of wide streets and Neoclassical brick buildings modelled on the then Russian capital, St Petersburg. It's a tribute to the vision of planner Johan Ehrenström and architect Carl Engel that from Senate Square to Esplanadi the grandeur has endured, often quite dramatically. The square itself is dominated by the exquisite form of the recently renovated Tuomiokirkko (Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 12noon-6pm), designed, like most of the other buildings on the square, by Engel, and completed after his death in 1852. After the elegance of the exterior, the spartan Lutheran interior comes as a disappointment; better is the gloomily atmospheric crypt (same times as cathedral; entrance on Kirkkokatu), now often used for exhibitions. Walking east, the square at the end of Aleksanterinkatu is overlooked by the onion domes of the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral (Mon-Fri 9.30am-6pm, Sat 9am-2pm, Sun 12noon-3pm, closed Mon Oct-April; tram #3). Inside, a rich display of icons glitters while incense mingles with the sound of Slavonic choirs. Beyond it is Katajanokka, a wedge of land extending between the harbours, where a dockland development programme is converting the old warehouses into pricey new restaurants and apartments for Helsinki's yuppies. Just a block south of Senate Square, the new City Museum at Sofiankatu 4 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 11am-5pm; ¬4.20) offers a hi-tech record of Helsinki life in an impressive permanent exhibition called "Time".

Across a mishmash of tramlines from South Harbour is Esplanadi . At the height of the mid-nineteenth-century language conflict, Finns would walk on the south side and Swedes on the north of this neat boulevard. Nowadays it's dominated at lunchtime by office workers, later in the afternoon by buskers, and at night by couples strolling hand-in-hand along the central pathway to free musical accompaniment from the bandstand in the middle. Close by, on the corner of Aleksanterinkatu and Mannerheimintie, is the Constructivist brick exterior of the Stockmann Department Store . Europe's largest, it sells everything from bubble gum to Persian rugs. Further along Mannerheimintie, steps head down to the Tunneli shopping complex which leads to one of the city's most enjoyable structures, Helsinki train station . This solid yet graceful 1914 building is often thought of as architect Eliel Saarinen's finest work. Beside the station is the imposing granite National Theatre , home of Finnish drama since 1872. Directly opposite the bus station is the Art Museum of the Ateneum, Kaivokatu 2 (Tues & Fri 9am-6pm, Wed & Thurs 9am-8pm, Sat & Sun 11am-5pm; ¬4.20, ¬7.60 for special exhibitions). Its stirring selection of late-nineteenth-century works - including Akseli Gallén-Kallela and Albert Edelfelt's scenes from the Finnish epic, the Kalevala , and Juho Rissanen's moody studies of peasant life - recalls a time when the spirit of nationalism was surging through the country.