6 Best Sights in Helsinki, Finland

Opened in 2018 beneath the newly renovated 1930s Lasipalatsi (Glass Palace), this impressive contemporary art museum with 24,000 square feet of subterranean exhibition space is the expanded new home of the Amos Anderson Art Museum, the 590-seat handsome Bio Rex cinema (restored to its 1930s glory), a café, and a restaurant. The roof of the sizeable exhibition hall is a series of giant domes with angled roof lights that frame surrounding views and light the galleries. From outside, the roof's gently rolling forms are part of a popular public square that beckons to children and skateboarders and serves as a very modern counterpoint to the 1930s functionalist surroundings. Originally dedicated to Finnish and Swedish art of the 19th and 20th centuries, the museum is now also focused on international contemporary art.

Showing impressive changing shows, including in recent years the likes of Gilbert & George and Yoko Ono, the Tennispalatsi (aka Tennis Palace, a name that hints at its former function) adjacent to the Kamppi Center mall is a must for visitors with an appetite for cutting edge modern art. The first-floor halls are dedicated to the museum’s collection of Finnish modern art and works of the beloved Finnish artist Tove Jansson, creator of the much-loved but peculiar Finnish Moomin characters. The building also houses one of Helsinki's main movie theater complexes.

The Art Museum of the Ateneum is one of three sheltering under the Finnish National Gallery umbrella. The gallery holds major European works, but the outstanding attraction is the Finnish art, particularly the dramatic and moody works of Akseli Gallen-Kallela, inspired by the national epic, The Kalevala. The rustic portraits by Albert Edelfelt are enchanting, and many contemporary Finnish artists are well-represented. The two other museums that make up the National Gallery are Kiasma and Sinebrychoff.

Finnish design tradition is showcased in the Design Museum in the heart of Helsinki's Design District. The best of Finnish design can be seen here in displays of furnishings, jewelry, ceramics, and more. Changing exhibitions supplement the absorbing history of one of Finland's proudest traditions presented in the permanent displays and archives. The museum also houses a cozy café and shop with a good selection of design-related books and souvenirs.

Eclectic contemporary art is on show behind the shiny, reflective exterior of Kiasma, one of a cluster of modern buildings opposite the sterner edifice of the Parliament House. Praised for the boldness of its curved steel shell conceived by American architect Steven Holl, but initially scorned for its encroachment on the territory of the iconic Mannerheim statue, this striking museum displays a wealth of Finnish and foreign art from the 1960s to the present and stages often provocative changing exhibitions. Extensive external renovations were due to be completed by the end of 2022. Look for the "butterfly" windows, and don't miss the view toward the Parliament House, the Finlandia Hall, and the Oodi Central Library from the north side of the fifth-floor gallery.

A branch of the Finnish National Gallery, the Sinebrychoff Museum occupies a 19th-century landmark building at the western end of leafy Bulevardi. The wealthy Russian Sinebrychoffs owned a brewing company (the Koff beer for sale throughout Helsinki is their legacy) and lived in this splendid yellow-and-white, 1840 neo-Renaissance mansion filled with wildly opulent furniture. The family's former home on the second floor is now a public museum containing old European collections. Dutch, Swedish, Italian, and French works are on show, with a mixture of 17th- and 18th-century portraits, landscapes, miniatures, porcelain, and the mansion's original decorative furniture.