Haaksirikkoiset (The Shipwrecked) Monument

Robert Stigell made a plaster sculpture on the shipwreck theme already in the beginning of the 1890s. In 1893 he offered a bronze cast of it to the City of Helsinki to be used as a public monument. In 1897, the City signed an agreement with the sculptor, and Stigell finalized the work, over 4 metres in height, in Paris between 1897-1898. The sculpture was also cast in Paris.

The sculpture depicts a shipwrecked family. The father, the central figure in the group, holds a small child in his arms and is calling for help. He is waving a scarf and looking towards their rescuers. Another child, a small boy, is stuck in what remains of the ship. The mother has collapsed and is lying on the raft. The work does not depict a particular shipwreck nor is it historical; Stigell was merely interested in exploring the sculptural dynamics of the subject.