The destroyed sculpture Kalapoika is replaced by Viktor Jansson’s work Knock out
Viktor Jansson’s Knock out replaces Unto Hietanen’s Kalapoika sculpture, which was destroyed in Tampere in October 2023. Depicting two boys riding on fish, Knock out was installed in Viinikka’s Lampipuisto park, on the former site of Kalapoika, on May 21, 2025.
The sculpture Kalapoika (1957) by Unto Hietanen, which was located in Viinikka’s Lampipuisto park, was destroyed in the autumn of 2023 due to vandalism. The artwork was one of the early examples of Hietanen’s public art created for the city of Tampere. As it was no longer possible to restore Kalapoika, it has now been replaced by a bronze cast from the Tampere Art Museum’s collection: a reproduction of Viktor Jansson’s work Knock out. This bronze cast was commissioned and donated to the museum in 1991 by the Friends of the Tampere Art Museum.
Jansson’s original piece dates from 1936–1937. The title refers to boxing, in which the Finnish boxer Sten Suvio won Olympic gold at the time. In Jansson’s sculpture, two naked putti—cherubic boys in the style of Renaissance art—are shown boxing while riding on fish. The bronze sculpture now placed in Viinikka’s Lampipuisto has been conserved and will include a water feature.
Before its placement in Lampipuisto, Viktor Jansson’s Knock out was displayed at Kultaranta in the summer of 2021. Following that exhibition, a separate cast was commissioned for the park of the President of the Republic’s summer residence at the request of the presidential couple.
