National Museum of Finland

The National Museum was built as a summary of Finland’s history in stone. The tower resembles a medieval church, the wings a castle, and details in granite and wood draw on motifs from Finnish nature and folk art. On the ceiling of the entrance hall Akseli Gallen-Kallela painted scenes from the Kalevala.

The trio of architects Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen won the competition in 1902, at a time when Finland was a grand duchy under Russia and the Finnish national movement was growing. The museum was to present the country’s own history and culture, and the building was made part of the message: each part alludes to a building type from Finnish history.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s frescoes from 1928 show scenes from the national epic, the Kalevala. The museum opened in 1916, a year before Finnish independence. The same architects designed the Pohjola building and their shared studio Hvitträsk, and Saarinen went on to design Helsinki Central Station, where National Romanticism gives way to a more austere modernism.

• National Romanticism
• Eliel Saarinen