National Romantic Style

National Romantic style is a Nordic architectural movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, spanning Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Russia, often considered a form of Art Nouveau but distinguished by its expression of progressive social and political ideals through reformed domestic and civic architecture rather than decoration for its own sake. Its architects drew on early medieval and prehistoric Nordic precedents to build an aesthetic aligned with a perceived regional identity, reacting against industrialization through what has been called a Dream of the North, a nationalist romanticism that renewed interest in Scandinavian history, mythology and texts such as the eddas and sagas. Notable buildings include Helsinki Central Station, completed in 1919, Stockholm City Hall, completed in 1923, Copenhagen City Hall, completed in 1905, and Tampere Cathedral in Finland, with the Finnish firm of Saarinen, Gesellius and Lindgren among its leading practitioners alongside the painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who built his own home, Tarvaspaa, in 1913.