Our Guides
Meet Your amazing Guides
Expert-Led, Thoughtfully Designed
Elevate Your Helsinki Trip with FAÇADES & FORTRESSES
Expert-Led by Anthropologists & Historians
Our tours are guided by academically trained professionals who bring depth, accuracy, and real insight to every experience.
Authorised Suomenlinna Specialists
Official guides of the UNESCO-listed fortress, with expert knowledge of its construction, conflicts, and lasting impact on Helsinki.
Complex Stories, Clearly Told
We don’t oversimplify—our tours unpack Helsinki’s layered history in a way that’s engaging and easy to understand.
Honest, Objective Perspective
We present history with balance and integrity, avoiding myths and offering a thoughtful, evidence-based narrative.
Immersive & Transformative Experiences
Each tour is designed to go beyond surface-level sightseeing, creating a deeper connection to the city.
Memorable, Meaningful Journeys
Our tours are crafted to stay with you—authentic experiences that resonate long after you’ve left Helsinki.
Founders
Phillip and Ilona are the founders of “Façades & Fortresses” as together they can create the best possible experiences for their guests. They were on the same course to become professional tour guides, and a few months after they graduated, were on the same course to become authorised Suomenlinna guides.
They study and conduct research together in various topics, co-writing scripts and theoretical papers, creating intelligent and engaging experiences for their guests.
They are committed.
Cofounder
phillip clifford
Phillip Clifford is a Canadian citizen, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who has been living and working in Finland permanently since 1999.
Phillip is an anthropologist and historian based in Helsinki, specialising in the cultural and historical landscape of Finland. He has a multidisciplinary perspective to his work: with his peacekeeping background in the Middle East during the Cold War, he understands the struggles of those embroiled in conflict; and with his academic background at several universities (Dalhousie, Memorial, Helsinki), he blends scholarly research with engaging storytelling.
“My time as a peacekeeper taught me to respect everyone I meet. It’s the very reason I left the army, I wanted to become an anthropologist to understand human nature better. As a guide, I want to communicate ideas meaningfully and authentically, whether it be military fortifications, urban architecture and national identity to culture, folklore and everyday life. My approach goes beyond surface-level facts, inviting guests to explore how history and culture shape contemporary societies.”
cofounder
ilona filonova
Ilona Filonova is a Russian citizen, living and working in Finland as a tour guide since 2022. She graduated from the University of Foreign Languages (Moscow) with a degree in translation and interpreting, giving her professional standing in linguistics.
“I have five years of professional experience in Saint Petersburg and have worked extensively with Chinese (Mandarin)-speaking tourists from mainland China, and Taiwan, providing high-quality service to individuals, families, VIPs, and corporate groups.
I bring strong communication skills, cultural understanding, and a service-oriented mindset to every tour. I have received many positive reviews from tourists, praising my professionalism, knowledge, and warm approach. My background combines deep destination knowledge with hands-on experience in hospitality and event coordination.”
Honour Guard for Queen Elizabeth II, October 1987, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
king's gate, Suomenlinna, june 2026, helsinki, finland.
I use the term fortress rather than castle to indicate that the purpose of Suomenlinna was almost wholly military, whereas in most other countries castles filled, in addition, the social role of residence of the nobility.
Finland is strewn with fortifications of a kind, having been so continually as a battleground. The wars between the Swedes, Russians, the German Empire, the Greater German Reich, and Soviets, which were fought backwards and forwards across the Finnish countryside from the late sixteenth century until the mid-twentieth century, left behind great numbers of walls, trenches and embankments, and lengths of stone revetment either standing on islands or buried in the woods.
Richards, J.M. A Guide to Finnish Architecture, Hugh Evelyn, London, 1968 (page 31).
Swedes we are not,
Russians we do not want to be,
So let us be Finns.
Adolf Ivar Arwidsson (August 1791 to June 1858)
