ABSTRACT
During most of Aalto's student days, Finland was in political turmoil. Under Swedish rule for centuries, it had been ceded to Russia in 1809. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, independence was declared on 6 December 1917. After a few years of civil strife, during which Aalto served in the militia, there was an uneasy peace with the Soviets from 1920. Aalto's mentor at Helsinki Polytechnic was Armas Eliel Lindgren, sometime partner of Eliel Got1eib Saarinen.* Both were significant in the National Romantic movement in architecture, in part a reaction against attempts to "Russianize" Finland. Its vernacular elements were in tension with the desire-almost the need-for classicism that characterizes new democratic states. In respect of classicism, other inputs must be
2 (HUGO) ALVAR (HENRYK)AALTO
noted: among Aalto's teachers were Yrjo Hirn , who taught aesthetics, and architectural historian Gustaf Nystrom, an avowed and evangelical Greacophile. Aalto's own aesthetic was roughly forged in those years: his early experiences and the beliefs of all these teachers greatly influenced his work, even in later life.
