Paavo Nurmi rose from the sea in 1961

In 1961, a group of students on their way to Gothenburg for the students' spring festival, decided to stop off in Stockholm to leave their business card on board the Vasa ship, which was planned soon to be lifted. The night before the lifting, they took a miniature sculpture of Paavo Nurmi's running statue on board.

Marine archaeologists were astonished when a bronze sculpture of a runner was found among historical artefacts and debris on the Vasa, which had been at the bottom of the sea for 333 years. It soon became clear that it represented a Finnish sports hero.

But how on earth had the artefact ended up on board? The speculation crossed the news threshold and on their return from Gothenburg, the technical students held a press conference in Stockholm, where they revealed their prank.

Historical prank (jäynä) in search of a winner

Over the decades, the Finnish technical students have invented numerous pranks, but none have matched the master prank of 1961. Prank is designed to provide surprising amusement for both its creators and its targets. A real technical student prank is mischievous, often to the extreme of appropriateness, but it never seriously offends anyone.

However, the Swedes' sense of humour must have been a little tested, as the Vasa Museum does not say much about the technical students act. In the Polytechnic Museum in Otaniemi, on the other hand, a sculpture of Paavo Nurmi as a runner takes pride in a place of honor in a display case.