The new, permanent Finlandia Exhibition on Finnishness and the unique legacy of Alvar, Aino and Elissa Aalto – their careers, lives, creativity, and humanity – opens at Finlandia Hall on 4 June 2025. The exhibition is right in the centre of Helsinki and will interest visitors from both Finland and abroad.

The story-based Finlandia Exhibition experience takes visitors through the Aaltos’ life and works, events in Finnish history, and on to Finns’ relationship with nature and the forest. The exhibition highlights how creativity is present everywhere: in people, nature, artistic expression, light, cooperation, and even history. Finlandia Hall plays a key role in weaving these stories together.

“Alvar Aalto is more important and interesting than ever before. When society is facing as much uncertainty and polarisation as it is now, this only adds to the significance of Aalto’s human-centred philosophy. The exhibition also helps us to better understand just how fundamental his designs have been to Finland’s national story,” says Alvar Aalto Foundation Museum Director and member of Finlandia Hall’s Advisory board, Jukka Savolainen.

The exhibition will explore entirely new perspectives on the Aaltos’ achievements and their impact on Finnish architecture, design, society, and international networks. It will also go deeper than ever before into the Aaltos’ home life, with previously unseen pictures from their family album. “The Aaltos, particularly Alvar, enjoy exceptional popularity among Finns and international audiences, so we believe the exhibition will also attract visitors from abroad. The show is excellent for an international audience seeking a deeper understanding of the Aaltos’ legacy and Finnish culture. In planning the exhibition, it was partly for this reason that we felt it was also important to direct visitors to other Aalto sites that would further add their own perspectives to the story,” says CEO of the Finlandia-talo Oy company, Johanna Tolonen.

The planning of the Finlandia exhibition was led by exhibition architect Taina Väisänen and the script written by historian and author Kirsti Manninen, PhD. The exhibition is produced by Finlandia Hall and sponsored by KPMG, Metsäsäätiö, Iittala and Genelec.

The permanent exhibition adds the finishing touch to the new Finlandia Experience, a package that also includes a restaurant, wine café, apartment accommodation, and design shop. Finlandia Hall re-opened to the public in January 2025, after extensive renovations.

You can explore the exhibition independently for the price of entry, or on guided tours in Finnish and English, for which tickets have to be bought in advance.

 

 

Exhibition open: Mon-Sun, Finlandia Hall opening hours
Tickets for the Finlandia Exhibition and guided tours are available from Tiketti: tiketti.fi
Address: Finlandia Hall, Mannerheimintie 13e, 00100 Helsinki
finlandiatalo.fi/en/

Finlandia Hall 1962, 1967-75. Photo Tuomas Uusheimo.