The sculpture Up Into the Sacred Dizzying Heights depicts a pair of swans taking flight. Its title is taken from Aleksis Kivi’s novel Seven Brothers. As the artist was living in Sweden when the work was created, it can be interpreted as referring not only to the search for inner peace after the war, but also to homesickness.

At the beginning of his career, sculptor and professor Jussi Mäntynen worked as a conservator, which gave him an in-depth knowledge of animal anatomy, behaviour and presentation. His sculptures primarily depicted Nordic wildlife, which he approached with scientific precision. At the same time, his choices of material and composition emphasised the distinctive character and, above all, movement of each species.