Memorial of the Shipwreck of Steamship Kuru (1940)

Bronze / pedestal black granite

Artist Yrjö Liipola (1881-1971)


The statue depicts a woman standing on a pedestal with a child in her arm, another child is clutching at her skirts, seemingly for protection. Her right arm is lifted behind her head.

A relief picture of a sinking ship is carved on the front of the pedestal. The woman is standing with her back towards Lake Näsijärvi and the rock of Siilinkari, the scene of the accident.

Steamship Kuru capsized in a storm on Lake Näsijärvi in 1929, and consequently 138 people were drowned. The statue was erected in memory of the disaster of Kuru.

The statue was unveiled on the 11th anniversary of the disaster, on September 7, 1940.

(My translation is based on the text found on the internet pages of the city of Tampere. Link to the material and a full picture of the statue.)