Most employees keep 9 to 6 hours, and unlike the British and Finnish Embassies, the American Embassy closes for Russian holidays as well as American ones.

In 1991 medallions were given to the living Hungarian veterans at the Finnish Embassy in Budapest.

But the Finnish Embassy, designed by the Viiva Arkkitehturri Oy team, has won the most plaudits.

Finnish Embassy, Stockholm, Sweden (2002).

Or a five-year old Nigerian girl who communicates to the world, um, um, only through a green-painted Barbie she found in the alley behind the Finnish Embassy.

Then, to underline the seriousness of the venture, the ambassador pointed to a successful Nordic rival, "Like the Finnish Embassy."

"I had staffers from the White House and Congress over last March," said Kristiina Helenius, press counselor for the Finnish Embassy.

On 17 October that same year, the Finnish Embassy in Washington, DC, received a telegram clearing the purchase of fighter aircraft.

That was before the construction of the new $10 million Finnish Embassy, which opens officially this fall at 3301 Massachusetts Avenue NW (34th Street).

The Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C. is Finland's embassy to the United States.