While souvenir shopping is a universal standard for tourists, a knife as a souvenir may not be the first thing you think of when buying mementoes of your trip. But if you think that fridge magnets don’t quite cut it and prefer something that is authentic to Finnish culture, then consider the ‘puukko’, a traditional […]

The Ateneum Art museum appears on nearly every list of must-sees in Helsinki for good reason. Its grand halls and sculpture-adorned façade make it a sight worth seeing, but don’t stop at merely admiring the exterior.  Within its ornate walls is an unmissable experience for visitors; nowhere else can you enjoy such a thorough perspective of […]

Statues and sculptures abound throughout Helsinki, and these statues tell interesting stories that are often lost on passersby. Now, Helsinki has developed an innovative way of telling you the stories behind each statue – by letting the statue do the talking! Currently there are fifteen statues which have this feature. When you visit the statue […]

Helsinki’s new central library Oodi opened on December 5, the eve of Finland’s 101st Independence Day, a fitting celebration for one of the most literate nations in the world. Located at Kansalaistori Square in the heart of the city, Oodi promises to be a transformative and multi-functional space, defying any notion of the library as a dated public […]

The Lapinlahti former psychiatric hospital stands poised on the edge of Lapinlahti Bay, a naturally beautiful site noted for its richness in biodiversity.  Much like the rare butterfly (Depressaria Chaerophylli) that can be found in the area, its future is uncertain, but its history certainly deserves preservation. The Lapinlahti estate is comprised of several structures, […]

The joy of spring is eternal. There is something undeniably stirring about the renewal of nature around us. Spring in Finland is a joyful time, and with the spring comes the arrival of Eastertide and its many traditions. Easter is the most important feast day for Orthodox Christians. It is also marked with reverence by […]

Here are 10 must-see museums for you to visit in Helsinki that offer a wide variety of collections for every taste: AMOS REX The re-invented Amos Rex museum is a meeting place for art and urban culture, located in the centre of Helsinki. Mannerheimintie 22-24, 00100 Helsinki Tel. +358 (0)9 684 4460 E-mail: museum@amosrex.fi Open: Mon 11 […]

Profane art (or secular art) had its hesitant origin in Finland in the 18th century Isak Wacklin’s rococo portraits and in Nils Schillmark’s paintings, which employed the Neoclassical idiom. Elias Martin’s landscape paintings documenting the fortification of Viapori represent a unique curiosity from the same period. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Finnish artists absorbed influences from the […]

The influence of plein-air painting The adoption of the plein-air method drove Finnish artists out into the midst of the peasantry and into the natural landscape. Artists, who usually had an upper-class background, began to make excursions into the “original Finland” that was supposed to lie in the forest wilderness of Karelia. Romanticism Landscape painting […]