Urho Kekkonen’s glasses

Urho Kaleva Kekkonen served five terms as the eighth President of the Republic of Finland from 1956 to 1981. One of the things that Kekkonen was known for were his glasses, which were a key part of his carefully considered style and appearance.

Kekkonen received glasses as a schoolboy and wore them continuously from then on. The designs of his glasses varied over the decades. After Kekkonen became president, his glasses gradually became a phenomenon. Kekkonen’s bald head and glasses were enough to identify him as can be evidenced, for example, by the caricatures of Kari Suomalainen or the famous self-portrait made in collaboration with artist Kimmo Pyykkö in 1975. In the portrait, Kekkonen’s bald head was represented by a baker’s peel, which only needed glasses made out of a horse bit to create a recognisable image of Kekkonen.

The glasses in the collection of the National Museum are from the 1970s. The impressive plastic-rimmed glasses are perhaps the most famous models of the “Kekkonen glasses”, which became a phenomenon. The glasses are from Urho Kekkonen’s collection, and by no means the only ones. The collection includes seven pairs of glasses and a few pairs of sunglasses. Kekkonen used to have several pairs of glasses with identical frames at the same time. The frames have text labels on them, explaining the purpose of each pair of glasses. Kekkonen had, for example, special glasses for giving presentations, which partly reflects the nature of the President’s work. H87011:174

Photos used in the video: Finnish Heritage Agency; South Karelia Museum