Kamppi

Kamppi (Swedish: Kampen) is a neighbourhood in the centre of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name originally referred to a small area known as the "Kamppi field" (see below), but according to the current official designation, "Kamppi" encompasses a much larger area with a population of 12,098 people (as of 31 December 2022) and 28,181 jobs (as of 31 December 2012). In common parlance today, the name "Kamppi" is often used to refer only to the northernmost part of Kamppi, containing the Kamppi Center shopping centre, the Kamppi metro station and the Tennispalatsi and Sähkötalo buildings. The heart of Kamppi is a part of the Central Business District. However, in stark contrast to the other districts of central Helsinki, development in Kamppi was sporadic and the very centre of Kamppi remained entirely undeveloped until 2002. The name "Kamppi" is derived from the Swedish word for battle, kamp. Under Russian rule in the 19th century, Kamppi was mainly used as a military area by Russian forces, with barracks and training fields, which the name refers to. This so-called "Kamppi field" in the centre of Kamppi was also the location of a market run by Jewish merchants from the late 19th century until 1929 when it was shut down. A new pedestrian plaza on the same site, completed in 2005 as part of a recent redevelopment project, has been officially named Narinkka Square (Finnish: Narinkkatori, Swedish: Narinken) which comes from the name that the old Jewish market had. The name for the Jewish market has its background in the Russian language, as many of the Jewish merchants came from Russia and spoke Russian.