Toripolliisi (Oulu (City))

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A bronze statue “Toripolliisi”, the Market Square Policeman, guards the city life at the market square in front of the Market Hall. How did he end up there? In 1985, the curator of the Art Museum, Kaija-Riitta Koivisto, found a small statue in a gallery in Kajaani that resembled a market square policeman very much. The gallery keeper Kaarlo Mikkonen told Kaija that he had made the sculpture for his father-in-law, a rural police chief. So, the Market Square Policeman wasn’t made in honour of any single market square policeman, but rather, it symbolises all market square policemen. Funds were raised from volunteers in 1985 for this piece of art by sculptor Kaarlo
Mikkonen (1920–2001), and it was unveiled in 1987 and immediately won over the public’s hearts. Miniature Market Square Policeman statues made of plaster are sold, for example, at the Oulu police department’s information desk, Rata-aukio 2. In addition, consignments left in the Market Hall post-box are stamped with a Market Square Policeman postmark.