Much of what defines Helsinki's culture took shape in the decades around 1900, when Finns were building a national identity of their own in theatre, art and design. This guide covers four places from that story: the Finnish National Theatre and the Ateneum art museum on Railway Square, the Shipwrecked monument on Observatory Hill and the Design Museum in Kaartinkaupunki. Together they make a walk from the station to the south of the centre, through theatre, painting, sculpture and design.
Finnish National Theatre
The theatre began in 1872 as the Finnish Theatre, a company that performed in Finnish. Its first performance was in Pori on 13 October 1872, and for about thirty years it had no permanent home and toured the country. That changed in 1902, when it moved into its own building on the north side of Railway Square and took the name Finnish National Theatre.
The building was designed by Onni Tarjanne in the National Romantic style, the Finnish version of Art Nouveau, which drew on nature, folklore and the Middle Ages. The main stage has been in use since 1902, and smaller stages were added in 1954, 1976 and 1987. The theatre is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The facade, one of the clearest examples of National Romanticism in the centre, best seen from across the square.
- The memorial to Aleksis Kivi, the 19th-century writer regarded as a founder of Finnish-language literature, in front of the theatre: a seated figure by Wäinö Aaltonen, put up in 1939.
Ateneum
On the south side of Railway Square stands the Ateneum, Finland's best-known art museum. The building, designed by Theodor Höijer, was completed in 1887, when the Finnish Art Society moved in. The collection closed during the Winter War in 1939 and reopened in 1946, and in 1958 it took the name Ateneum Art Museum. Today it is part of the Finnish National Gallery, and its collection counts more than 4,300 paintings and 750 sculptures.
The Ateneum is the place to see the Golden Age of Finnish art, the decades around 1900 when painters turned to the country's landscapes, people and the epic Kalevala. It also holds some international works. The museum is one of the stops on the scavenger hunt.
- The Wounded Angel by Hugo Simberg (1903), in which two boys carry a blindfolded angel on a stretcher, one of the best-loved paintings in Finland.
- Akseli Gallen-Kallela's Aino triptych (1891), from the Kalevala, and Helene Schjerfbeck's The Convalescent (1888).
- International works such as Vincent van Gogh's Street in Auvers-sur-Oise (1890) and Paul Cézanne's The Road Bridge at L'Estaque.
The Shipwrecked
On a plateau above a cliff at the edge of Tähtitorninvuori, Observatory Hill, overlooking the South Harbour, stands Robert Stigell's bronze group The Shipwrecked (Haaksirikkoiset). A family is caught at sea: the father stands at the top holding a small child and calling to rescuers, a son clings to the wreckage and the mother has sunk onto the raft. Stigell made a plaster version in the early 1890s and finished the monument in Paris; it was cast there in bronze and set on a granite pedestal from Hanko. It was unveiled on 18 November 1898.
The scene does not refer to any real shipwreck. Stigell drew on Géricault's Raft of the Medusa and the ancient Laocoön group, but in the years of Russian pressure on Finland people read patriotic meanings into the struggling family that were not the sculptor's own. The work won a gold medal at the Paris World Exhibition of 1900, and it is considered Helsinki's first outdoor sculpture not made to honour a particular person or event. It is a stop on our scavenger hunt.
- The figures from all sides: the composition is built to be walked around, with the father at the top as the high point.
- The view from the plateau over the South Harbour, and the old university observatory, completed in 1834, on the top of the hill.
Design Museum
The Design Museum was founded in 1873, making it one of the oldest museums of its kind in the world. Since 1978 it has been housed in a neo-Gothic former school on Korkeavuorenkatu, designed by Gustaf Nyström and completed in 1895 for a Swedish-language school for boys and girls. Its collection of more than 75,000 objects covers Finnish design and applied art, from furniture and glass to fashion and graphic design.
In 2024 the museum merged with the Museum of Finnish Architecture to form the Architecture & Design Museum, and a new building for the joint museum is being planned in the South Harbour. For now the exhibitions remain in the old school, so check the museum's own information before you go, in case of changes. It is one of the stops on the scavenger hunt.
- The neo-Gothic school building itself, a reminder that the museum lives in a house built for pupils, not for exhibitions.
How to see them in one walk
Start on Railway Square with the National Theatre and the Aleksis Kivi memorial, then cross to the Ateneum and allow time inside. Walk south through the centre to the Market Square and the waterfront, then climb Observatory Hill to the Shipwrecked. Finish by walking west into Kaartinkaupunki to the Design Museum on Korkeavuorenkatu. On the way you pass Helsinki Cathedral and the Old Market Hall, which are also on our route.
See Helsinki with World City Trail
Our Helsinki scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the Finnish National Theatre to the Three Smiths statue, and all four places in this guide are stops: the National Theatre, the Ateneum, the Shipwrecked and the Design Museum, along with Helsinki Cathedral, the Market Square, the Old Market Hall, St John's Church and Old Church Park. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Helsinki.
Play the Helsinki scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Helsinki →
Play the outdoor escape game in Helsinki →
Facts checked in October 2026.