Finnish Maiden

She is a barefoot young woman in her mid-twenties with blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a blue and white national costume or a white dress.

As a symbol, the Finnish Maiden has been used since the 19th century when she was pictured as a woman wearing a turreted crown, and then developing as Finland gained a national consciousness and independence.

Zachris Topelius and Walter Runeberg were important in establishing the Finnish Maiden as a symbol.

Like the Mother Svea of neighbouring Sweden, the Finnish maiden was, at first, a mature woman, but gradually became younger.

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The Finnish Maiden on a 1906 postcard.
In the painting The Attack by Edvard Isto , the Finnish Maiden is being attacked by the Russian eagle , which is tearing away the law book from her hands. It was painted when the Russification of Finland started in 1899.