The Secret Capital of EGS:

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When you reach this square, it is impossible to not notice the three gentle smiths. Their names are Eugen, Gohar and Seneca, and according to the myth, they forged money night and day in the old swamplands of Kluuvinlahti bay for so long that the land under them began to sink, and this was what created the waterway of Töölönjärvi lake and Suomenlahti bay.

The name of this ancient currency was the EGS coin.

Coins are still being found all over the capital of EGS, but the area around Kluuvinlahti is a particular hotspot for finds. According to analyses by metallurgists, the coins were forged from a mix of iron, silver and tin, and this alloy has an unusually high nickel content. From this composition, we can establish that the coins originated from these coastal swamps in particular. As far as we know, the coins were the primary reason for Christina, Queen of Sweden wanting to move the centre of Helsinki here in 1640.

The first documented coin find was made in 1893, when street works at the junction of Kaivokatu and Mikonkatu revealed a leather pouch containing 27 EGS citizen coins. In more recent times, the area under the nearby Perunatori square has seen a particularly high number of finds. Since the start of the 1980s, excavations have also revealed corncob pipes, metalworking tools, hand-carved maps from phonebooks, home-made marker pens, and phone numbers scrawled on pieces of paper.

Under the clock time stands still, and perhaps in that moment, in the beats of your own heart you can hear the clashing of ancient hammers on the anvil.

Over the decades, people tried to revive the art of forging the coins, and ever more specialised groups have carried out their rituals at the Three Smiths Statue.

Adventurers fleeing far-away dictators have played their panpipes and drums, peace-loving punk rockers have sacrificed their homebrew at the foot of the statue, and tens of thousands of friends and lovers have arranged to meet under the nearby clock, as under the clock time stands still, and perhaps in that moment, in the beats of your own heart you can hear the clashing of ancient hammers on the anvil and rediscover the magic of forging these coins.

Around four decades ago, the graffiti tribe finally discovered how to make more of the coins. These later-era EGS coins are made from bottle tops placed on tram tracks, letting trams do the work of the smiths in forging the coins into discs.

Both then and now, these coins serve as a means of payment with which you can always get the Carosol primer and heat-resistant spray paint you need. The alternative central bank of the Republic of EGS accepts these street-born contraptions as valid currency, as the value of money comes not from its origin but from its use.

Who’s there?

In the 1970s and 1980s, Perunatori square and later on the Citykäytävä shopping tunnel were known as underground market places where EGS coins were traded for graffiti sketches, photographs, stories of heroes, marker pens, records, spray paints, and information about secret paths to the rail yards and tunnels.

The coins were also a source of joy in the evenings, when people used them to play pinball at the café of Lepakko social centre and music venue and dropped them in slot machines in pubs. Sometimes, the coins were crammed into a jukebox, and if there was no one to talk to, they could be inserted into a public phone and the dial spun to 059 to reach an anonymous public chat line. Who’s there?

When you visit the three smiths, take a moment to study your surroundings. If you stand under the rotating clock, you will be able to see many references to the Republic of EGS and its economy, much like the references to the parallel economy of the ordinary Helsinki.

Despite their similarities, in the Republic of EGS people forge the currency, while in the ordinary world the currency forges the pace of everything else.

Cast your gaze uphill – that is where the journey continues.

At the End of the Chart, 2025, watercolour on paper.