Tennispalatsi

The Tennispalatsi (Tennis Palace) City Art Museum is situated not far from the central bus station of Helsinki. The name of the museum means the Palace of Tennis and is connected with the history of the building, where the venue is housed. The Tennispalatsi was constructed in 1938 in the functional style to the design by young Finnish architect Helge Lundstrem. The roofed tennis complex was built specially for the summer Olympics, which was to take place in Helsinki, but finally was cancelled. Next years the building of the Tennis Palace was used by different trade and business communities for their purposes. Only in 1952 the Palace was used for sport purposes - but it was not tennis. The palace was used as a place, where Summer Olympics basketball games were held. In 1993 city government decided to open a cultural center in the building. Nowadays the Tennispalatsi hosts not only the Art City Museum of Helsinki, but also the Museum of Sculpture and the cinema theater of the Finncinema Company, which is remarkable due to its biggest display in Europe.

The Tennispalatsi City Art Museum doesn't feature the permanent exhibitions. The palace is first of all the place for the exhibitions of the contemporary art and modern performances. It stays one of the most popular cultural and recreational centers in Helsinki among both locals and guests of the city.