Hotel Katajanokka - a former prison

The Hotel Katajanokka, where we spent our final two nights in Helsinki, is a converted prison.  It was the old county jail, whose first wing was built in 1837.  Three more wings were added in 1888.  The prison had 164 cells and could accommodate 200 prisoners.  Their cells were seven square metres in size.

The prison was closed in 2002, and the hotel was established in 2007.  It now has 106 very comfortable rooms.

The floors of the hotel resemble the jail of former times.

The jail as it looked in the past.

The Jailbird Restaurant at the bottom level.

Near the restaurant is this old cell, left unchanged.

The cell measured approximately two and a bit metres by two and a bit metres.

The yard with the high walls of the prison.