The portrait herm depicting Jäger Colonel Heikki Nurmio (1887–1947) was erected in memory of the man who wrote the words to Jean Sibelius’s Jäger March and described his experiences on the German Eastern Front during the First World War in his work Jääkärin päiväkirja (Diary of a jäger).

Herms originated in ancient Greece and are associated with Hermes, the messenger of the classical gods. A square pillar ending in a bust or portrait head often depicts a person or figure whose life’s work, for example in the field of culture, is held in particularly high esteem.