Helsinki has a diverse range of museums, galleries and private art collections and here we present 35 for you to choose from. Pick your favourite for a day out, or even just for an afternoon excursion. Or work your way through our list and decide afterwards which one is your favourite! Either way, you will […]

Every year there are many music festivals taking place in Finland, and several interesting festivals happen right here in urban Helsinki. Flow Festival Flow Festival, the hippest festival in Finland, takes place from the 9th to the 11th of August, 2019 in the historic power plant area of Suvilahti in central Helsinki. The past few […]

The past few years have seen the rise of Finnish illustrators in the world of Finnish design. The hottest names now include Sanna Annukka, whose colourful work uses Finnish folkloristic themes. You may have seen her work in products by Marimekko, Mark&Spencer’s and Vogue. The Amsterdam-based Kustaa Saksi has designed illustrations for Jennifer Lopez’s Justsweet fashion brand and Issey […]

Helsinki is known internationally as a city of design and at its heart is the Design District. Design District Helsinki is a large cluster of stores, restaurants and more, with creativity as the common factor aside from their location, spreading out from the hub of the Diana Park in Erottaja, at the south end of Mannerheimintie, […]

The earliest and still working companies in the field of the applied arts were the Arabia ceramics factory (founded in 1873), and Nuutajärvi glass factory (founded in 1794). In 1928 Riihimäen Lasi organised a glass design competition. The winning designer, Henry Ericsson already shows the clean lines of modernism. The work of the 1930s, from furniture and everyday wares to graphic design, was characterised […]

Nouveau ideas Helsinki’s architecture offers many examples of turn of the century Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) and the classicism that followed. These styles can be studied in numerous public buildings. The National Museum, the National Theatre, and Eliel Saarinen’s Central Railway Station are some of the landmarks of this period. Of the original interiors that still […]

The hectic construction that took place in the closing decades of the nineteenth century is evident nearly everywhere in central Helsinki. Four- and five-storey commercial buildings and residential blocks were erected on Pohjoisesplanadi, Bulevardi, and Erottaja, designed in a style that emulated the architecture of Vienna and Berlin. The so-called period of Eclecticism produced many […]

What does Helsinki have to offer visitors interested in architecture? Both architecturally and culturally, Helsinki is an idiosyncratic mix of eastern and western influence. The main theatres, museums, and concert halls are all centrally located, and many public and commercial buildings manifest outstanding architectural quality. HELSINKI IS YOUNGER and smaller than most of the other […]

Throughout Helsinki, you can find outstanding examples of a range of architectural styles from different eras. National Romanticism For instance, the Jugendstil architectural style is showcased beautifully in Helsinki if you know where to look. The romanticism of the art nouveau Jugendstil theme is expressed in the turrets, rural motifs and quirky granite detail of […]