The Secret of Finnish Sauna shows different aspects of Finnish sauna culture and the history of sauna architecture.

The exhibition sheds light on why sauna plays such a central role in Finnish society and culture. Examples of modern saunas include five different sauna buildings designed by Alvar Aalto: the sauna at Villa Mairea; the sauna at the Muuratsalo Experimental House; the sauna at Villa Kokkonen; the riverside sauna in Kauttua; and the Chief Physician’s sauna at Paimio Sanatorium, which was demolished in the 1950s.

The Secret of Finnish Sauna includes original drawings from the Alvar Aalto Foundation’s collection, as well as miniature models made by Japanese architecture students of saunas designed by Alvar Aalto. There are also historical and modern photographs of Finnish sauna culture, sauna-themed documentary films, and lots of common sauna-related objects from different decades, such as ladles and buckets, stools, textiles, and tableware.

Full-scale sauna interiors from different eras give exhibition visitors a spatial experience of the smoke sauna at the Muuratsao Experimental House, an electric sauna of the 1970s, and also a modern wood-fired sauna.

The Secret of Finnish Sauna is at Gallery A4, Tokyo, 19.12.2025–5.3.2026

The exhibition will be shown in six different venues in Japan in 2025–2027 – in Tokyo, Sendai, Hiroshima, Toyama, Gifu and Koumi.

Alvar Aalto and the sauna of Muuratsalo Experimental House in 1960´s. Photo Heikki Havas, Alvar Aalto Foundation.