Open House: Come see where Helsinki’s decisions are made

The Helsinki City Council celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. In honour of this landmark, the City of Helsinki is arranging an Open House at City Hall on Helsinki Day, Thursday 12 June, from 8.30 to 10.20. The tour will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the historical building and how local government works.

The Helsinki City Hall will open its doors to the public on 12 June, Helsinki Day, welcoming all those who wants to learn more about decision-making in the city. The Open House event will allow visitors to tour the building’s premises and learn more about its architectural features and artwork.

Tours will lead visitors from the City Hall lobby to the mayor’s reception room and its adjacent balcony looking out over the Market Square. From there, they will continue to the historic Banquet Hall, the City Council Chamber and its public gallery. In addition to the architecture and art, the tour will also highlight the city’s decision-making processes and the history of the Helsinki City Council and the City Hall building.

Open House: An inside look at Helsinki decision-making

Thursday 12 June 2025 8.30–10.20

Street address: Pohjoisesplanadi 11–13

History of the Helsinki City Hall

The building that the City Hall currently occupies can be traced back to the time when Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire. Carl Ludvig Engel designed it in 1833, with the Hotel Seurahuone originally operating in the space until the year 1913. The edifice has housed the City Hall administration since the 1930s. From 1965 to 1970, everything in the building except the façade and the Banquet Hall was demolished and renovated according to plans by the architect Aarno Ruusuvuori.

Ruusuvuori’s modernist style can be seen today in the corridor connecting the mayor’s reception room with the Banquet Hall. The reception room has a stunning view of Helsinki’s South Harbour and the Esplanade. A striking painting of 1877 Helsinki from Oscar Klein hangs in the reception room, while the sculpture People Through the Ages (1971) by Eila Hiltunen, who also designed the Sibelius Monument, is featured in the nearby lobby.

The first meeting of the Helsinki City Council took place in the Empire Room of the Old Town Hall in 1875. The City Hall’s Banquet Hall was linked to the City Council’s start, in that a dinner to celebrate the inauguration of the council was held there in February 1875. The City Council did eventually start convening in the Banquet Hall, meeting there regularly for over 30 years, from 1932–1965.

From 1988 forward, the Helsinki City Council has been assembling its own permanent chamber in the City Hall building. The 85 councillors meet there throughout the year, every second week or so, on Wednesdays. Public officials and the media have their own seating area to the side of the chamber, while visitors are free to watch the meetings from the public gallery up above. Puinen meri (1988), a work of graphic art from Juhana Blomstedt, is featured on the chamber wall.

Artworks in the City Hall lobby include Kimmo Kaivanto’s imposing Ketju (1971) sculpture. In the staircase from the main floor to the Banquet Hall is a ceramic relief by Rut Bryk entitled Kaupunki auringossa (1975) and in the opposite staircase, a collection of photographs from Jorma Puranen called Where Compasses All Go Mad (2007) can be seen.

More information

History Helsinki: City Hall

Helsinki City Council 150 years

Learn more about decision-making at the City of Helsinki