Helsinki City Art Museum

The Helsinki City Art Museum is about to enter a new era with the premises in the Tennis Palace quadrupling its total exhibition space. The Art Museum will have museum galleries in Meilahti and the Tennis Palace, showing a wide variety of exhibitions, while the Kluuvi gallery continues as a venue for showcasing experimental art by young contemporary artists.

At the Tennis Palace the Helsinki City Art Museum is in close vicinity of numerous important art museums and galleries. Art-lovers will appreciate its convenient location in the city centre. On the other hand, the cinemas and restaurants of the Tennis Palace will bring new visitors to the Museum and offer fresh perspectives to designing exhibitions. What is more, coexistence in adjoining galleries with the Museum of Cultures offers an opportunity which is rare, even internationally, for both the Museums and their visitors. The museum occupies an old mansion, which was built in 1911 to the design by Lars Sonk. The exhibitions of the museum present the 450-year history of the city: from a small settlement to the capital of independent Finland. At the beginning of the XX century the first collections of the future museum were formed by the Association of historical monuments, which collected all the photographic materials about the changes of the growing city. These photos along with some old exhibits and an art collection of Otto Furunhielm became the core of the collection. The museum opened in 1911 firstly was situated in Hakasalmi villa.

To the end of the XX century the collections of the museum reflected all the main periods of the past of Helsinki. Nevertheless the archeological digs in the historical parts of the city were continued. Some new collections were dedicated to the present of the city. In 1980-90 years some other expositions were formed from the collections of the museum and located into other buildings: Burger's house, tram transport museum, children's museum, school museum, Sederholm house and others. In 1994-1995 the Helsinki city museum moved to the mansion in Sofiankatu Street.

Today the Helsinki City Art Museum presents the permanent exposition "The horizons of Helsinki". It reflects three main periods of Helsinki history: under Sweden domination, the autonomy under Russian domination and the city independence. The main parts of the exhibition are: Helsinki as a sea port, Helsinki as a industrial center, Helsinki as the capital of Finland, the unique culture of the Finnish capital. Visitors can also see the archeological finds of different times.