My memories of my early student days include Professor Lars Pettersson’s legendary lectures on mediaeval churches and castles, in which he traced in the manner of a detective the secrets of the shields in Hattula’s church paintings, or the openings in the towers of Vyborg Castle on the basis of descriptions of a huge explosion known as the Vyborg blast. For a young novice, the professor’s methods, meticulously based on source research, and his sometimes exceptionally creative and hilarious interpretations, demonstrated what science at its best could be – exciting and fun! In Henrik Lilius’s lectures one learnt a strict analysis of classic architecture, and Riita Nikula inspired one to approach 20th century architecture.

Study trips in the 1980s took us to see such things as churches and manors, and on an excursion to Ostrobothnia we enjoyed a picnic on the sands of Kalajoki even though ice was still floating in the Gulf of Bothnia. Of the trips abroad, unforgettable were the trip to New York in 1984, organised by the department and Eidos – the association of art history students – for which we raised funds by running a café in connection with the Ateneum Art Museum’s ARS83 exhibition, and a course on the Baroque Period at the Villa Lante in the chilly spring of 1986. Rome was charming, and the physical idiom of baroque architecture with its concave and convex forms was opened in an entirely new way.

Eidos, the association of art history students, represented an important social pastime during my student days, and I participated as a board member and as secretary. In addition to trips, numerous parties at New Student House were naturally part of the life of the student association. I also fondly remember the unique atmosphere at the Department of Art History, the scent of books, plaster and dust, the hard benches in the lecture theatres and of course the people who became life-long friends through courses, tutoring and student associations.