100 Markkaa 1910, Finland
| in Krause book | Number: 7с |
| Years of issue: | 1907 - 1917 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Governor of the Bank of Finland: Clas Herman von Collan (in office from 1907 till 1918), J.M. Ahlfors |
| Serie: | 1897 - 1898 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1898 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 177 × 103 |
| Printer: | Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited, New Malden |
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Description
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On the left are Finnish peasants (man and woman) - sculpture "Labor", as a part of monument to Emperor Alexander II in Helsinki.
Monument to Alexander II (fin. Aleksanteri II: n patsas, swed. Statyn över Alexander II) - a monument to the Grand Duke of Finland and the Russian Emperor Alexander II, installed in Helsinki in front of the Helsinki Cathedral on the Senate Square, and being its main dominant.
The monument was created by sculptors Walter Runeberg and Johannes Takanen and opened on April 17 (29), 1894, in memory of the restoration of Finnish parliamentarism by Emperor Alexander II.
The emperor is depicted in the uniform of a Finnish guards officer. At the foot of the pedestal there are figures that personify "Law" (Lex), "Peace" (Pax), and "Enlightenment" (Lux), "Labor" (Labor).
Emperor Alexander II (1818-1881) was the second Russian ruler of Finland, who bore the title of Grand Duke of Finland. During the 26 years of his reign (1855-1881), significant social reforms were carried out with his participation. He died in 1881 in St. Petersburg as a result of a terrorist act organized by the secret revolutionary organization Narodnaya Volya.
In 1882, the parliament decided to perpetuate the memory of Grand Duke Alexander II in the capital of Finland. A nationwide fundraiser was announced. As a result, out of 280,000 marks spent on the work, 240,000 were voluntary contributions from Finnish citizens. As soon as the collection began, in January 1884, the four-estate Sejm of the Grand Duchy announced a competition for the design of the monument, which was supposed to be installed on Senate Square. The committee received consent from the city council of Helsingfors to erect a monument on Senate Square. The committee then appealed to the artists to submit their sketches or models of the statue. For the first time, Finnish sculptors were invited to participate in such a significant project. The works were to be submitted to the board of the Bank of Finland by the end of September 1884. The author of the best project was paid 2,000 marks, and for the basically approved project - 1,200 marks.
The competition was attended by such masters as Carl Eneas Schjestrand, Walter Runeberg, Johannes Takanen, Robert Stigell, Ville Wahlgren. All the works submitted for the competition were valuable in themselves. To select the winner, the committee invited 7 experts, and as a result, a commission of 15 people chose 18 days. At the final meeting of the commission in October 1884, a vote was held, as a result of which Takanen received the first prize (8 votes), and Runeberg - the second. The Diet awarded the first prize to Takanen and at the same time, by the votes of three estates (the peasant estate opposed it), decided that Takanen and Runeberg should jointly turn the project into a final monument. Both sculptors at that moment lived and worked abroad, 34-year-old Takanen - in Rome, and 45-year-old Runeberg with his family - in Paris. The project, the authors of which were sculptors Johannes Takanen and Walter Runeberg, received the highest approval.
However, on September 30, 1885, Takanen, who lived in Rome, died at the age of 35. Runeberg created allegories (Lex, Pax, Lux, Labor), and cast the figure of the emperor according to the model of Takanen.
The bronze statue was cast in France.
Alexander II is depicted at the moment of delivering a speech at the grand opening of the Sejm, in Helsingfors, September 6, 1863. The emperor is dressed in the uniform of an officer of the Finnish guards (Fin. Suomen Kaarti).
Until 1863, the Finnish Diet did not actually meet. In 1863, in Helsingfors, on the initiative of Alexander II, the first meeting of the Sejm was held in order to develop a constitution. As a result, the four-part (aristocracy, clergy, philistines and peasants) system of the Sejm was finally formed, democratic privileges were granted, and political parties began to appear. Speaking at the opening of the Sejm, the emperor mentioned the preparatory work of a special commission he had established in 1861, listed the financial laws submitted to the Sejm, and expressed his determination not to proceed, without the consent of government officials, to new loans. He commented on the fundamental laws of the country that some of them do not meet the needs of the time, while others suffer from ambiguity and uncertainty. He said that a draft law modifying them would be submitted to the Sejm, which would convene in three years.
“Respecting the monarchical constitutional principle inherent in the mores of the Finnish people and embodied in all their laws and institutions, I want to introduce into this project even more extensive rights than those that now belong to state officials regarding the establishment of taxes, as well as the right to impose, by which they used before, providing, however, an initiative for themselves in all matters relating to changes in the fundamental laws. You know my feelings and my desires for the happiness and well-being of the peoples entrusted to my care. None of my actions violated the harmony that should exist between the Sovereign and the people. I want this agreement to continue to serve, as before, as a guarantee of good relations, connecting me with the courageous and honest Finnish people. It will undoubtedly contribute to the well-being of the country close to my heart, and will give me the opportunity to convene you at a certain time. It is up to you, representatives of the Grand Duchy, to prove by the dignity, moderation and calmness of your reasoning that in the hands of a wise people, disposed to work, together with the Sovereign, in a practical spirit to develop their prosperity, liberal institutions not only do not constitute a danger, but are a guarantee of order. and success."
The statue is surrounded by four sculptural groups, symbolizing the main directions of the beneficial influence of the Russian monarch on Finland: the observance of law and order, the development of science and culture, the prosperity of agriculture, and peace. 
Centered is the Lesser coat of arms of the Russian Empire.
The Russian Empire had a coat of arms, displayed in either its greater, middle and lesser version.
Its escutcheon was golden with a black two-headed eagle crowned with two imperial crowns, over which the same third crown, enlarged, with two flying ends of the ribbon of the Order of Saint Andrew. The State Eagle held a golden scepter and golden globus cruciger. On the chest of the eagle there was an escutcheon with the arms of Moscow, depicting Saint George, mounted and defeating the dragon.
After approval by Alexander III on 24 July 1882, the greater coat of arms was adopted on November 3, replacing the previous 1857 version.
Its central element is the coat of arms, crowned with the helmet of Alexander Nevsky, with black and golden mantling, and flanked by the archangels Michael and Gabriel. The collar of the Order of Saint Andrew is suspended from the coat of arms. The whole lies within a golden ermine mantle, crowned by the Imperial Crown of Russia and decorated with black double-headed eagles. The inscription on the canopy reads: Съ Нами Богъ ("God is with us"). Above the canopy stands the state khorugv, of gold cloth, on which is depicted the Medium State Seal. The banner is topped by the State Eagle.
Around the central composition are placed fifteen coats of arms of the various territories of the Russian Empire. Nine of these are crowned and placed on a laurel and oak wreath. Proceeding from the left in a counter-clockwise direction, these represent, as they are included in the full imperial title: the Khanate of Kazan, the Kingdom of Poland, Tauric Chersonesos, the unified coat of arms of the Grand Principalities of Kiev, Vladimir and Novgorod, the dynastic arms of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, the Grand Principality of Finland, the Georgian principalities, and the Khanates of Siberia and Astrakhan.
The six upper escutcheons are joint depictions of various smaller principalities and oblasts. From the left in a clockwise fashion, these are: the combined arms of the northeastern regions (Perm, Volga Bulgaria, Vyatka, Kondinsky, Obdorsk), of Belorussia and Lithuania (Lithuania, Białystok, Samogitia, Polatsk, Vitebsk, Mstislavl), the provinces of Great Russia proper (Pskov, Smolensk, Tver, Nizhniy-Novgorod, Ryazan, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozersk, Udorsky), the arms of the southwestern regions (Volhyn, Podolsk, Chernigov), the Baltic provinces (Esthonia, Courland and Semigalia, Karelia, Livonia) and Turkestan.
The Middle Coat of Arms (Средний государственный герб Российской Империи) is similar to the Great Coat of Arms, excluding the khorugv and the six upper escutcheons. The Abbreviated Imperial Title is inscribed over the perimeter of the Seal.
The Lesser Coat of Arms (Малый государственный герб Российской Империи) depicts the imperial double-headed eagle, as used in the coat of arms, with the addition of the collar of the Order of Saint Andrew around the escutcheon of St. George, and the Arms of Astrakhan, Siberia, Georgia, Finland, Kiev-Vladimir-Novgorod, Taurica, Poland and Kazan on the wings (seen clockwise).
Denominations, in numbers, are in all corners and below, in large, gold color. In words - centered, in Finnish and Swedish.
Revers:
The coat of arms of Finland in Russian Empire. Spruce branches around.
After Finland had been ceded to Russia (as a consequence of the Swedish-Russian war of 1808-1809), Elias Brenner's version of the lion was chosen by the authorities as the model for the new coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire. The blazon in the decree of 26 October 1809 states: The shield has a red field, strewn with roses of silver, on which a golden lion with a crown of gold, standing on a silver saber, which it grasps with the left forepaw while holding in the right forepaw an upright sword. Obviously, any interpretation of the lion as trampling on a Russian sabre had been lost at this point in time.
During the reform of the Russian official heraldry in 1857, the lion was again changed on the initiative of baron Bernhard Karl von Köhne. The blazon states: On a red field strewn with silver roses a crowned lion of gold, holding in the right forepaw an upright sword and in the left one a curved sword on which it rests with the right hindpaw. The main changes were that the lion had started to resemble a dog rather than a lion, and the crown on top of the shield had been changed to an arched crown without a cap, and with a small Russian eagle on the rim. The sword in the right forepaw had shrunk in size, to the point of resembling a dagger rather than a sword.
During the years when the Russian emperors attempted russification of Finland (1899-1905 and 1908-1917), the use of the arms of Finland increased significantly, and eventually became popular in the broader population.
The director of the Finnish National Archives, Karl August Bomansson (1827–1906) made the first significant study on the arms of Finland in modern times. He restored the appearance of the arms in 1886, so that it closely resembled the Uppsala lion. However, there was a slight deviation on how the lion tramples on the saber, and the arched crown with the imperial eagle in the von Köhne version was replaced with a crown similar to that of a German princely crown. This version of the arms was subsequently used in the early years of Finnish independence.
Denominations in numerals are on the right and left sides.
Comments:
Signatures printed, without lines under them.
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