Location: Alajärvi, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Lahti, Seinäjoki, Finland
Duration: 8 days
Sites: Alvar Aalto in Helsinki, Rautatalo Office Building, The Aalto House, Studio Aalto, Finlandia Hall, Church of the Cross, Alvar Aalto in Jyväskylä, Alvar Aalto Museum, Säynätsalo Town Hall, Muuratsalo Experimental house, The Seinäjoki Civic Centre, Alvar Aalto in Alajärvi
Persons: Min. 15 persons, max. 25 persons. Please ask an offer for smaller groups.
Available: May-September 2020
Accommodation: Included
Transportation: Included
Themes: Aalto homes, Churches, Civic centers, Cultural buildings, Modernism, Office buildings
From 1440 € per person
Come along to the 8-day tour of the best-known Finnish architects through Finland surveying the works of Alvar Aalto and Eliel Saarinen! You can also combine some other aspects of design and architecture as well as UNESCO’s world heritage sites in the programme!
Tour highlights:
Seinäjoki Town Hall. Photo: Visit Seinäjoki, Katja Lösönen.
To visit the Alvar Aalto Museum is not only to immerse yourself in the world of Aalto’s architecture, design and personal history but it is an architectonic experience of space and building at the same time. Photo: Maija Holma, Alvar Aalto Foundation
The tremendous programme of the best architectural sites is complemented with savoury dinners and beautiful high-standard accommodation. This tour will certainly feed both the body and the soul!
Arrival in Helsinki by plane. Accommodation in Hotel Helka which has a relaxed atmosphere and stylish interior with carefully chosen Finnish design classics by Alvar Aalto and Artek.
Guided walking tour around Helsinki including all the most famous buildings designed by Alvar Aalto and Eliel Saarinen: Saarinen’s Railway Station (1919), Marmoripalatsi (Marble Palace 1918) and National Museum (1905-1910), Aalto’s Rautatalo office building (Iron House; 1951, 1952-1953), Academic Bookstore (1961, 1966-1969) and Finlandia Hall (1962-1975). Independent lunch and later in the afternoon bus transfer via Munkkiniemen Pensionaatti (Munkkiniemi Boarding House 1918) to the Aalto House and Studio Aalto.
Dinner in the Savoy Restaurant. The interior and the furnishing of the restaurant were designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto.
After breakfast, transfer to Lahti. Accommodation in Sokos Hotel Lahden Seurahuone. Independent lunch. Afternoon: Explore the designs of Alvar Aalto and Eliel Saarinen in Lahti with a guide! During this guided walking tour, you will admire the work of Alvar Aalto and Eliel Saarinen. The tour starts from the Church of the Cross (Ristinkirkko) designed by Alvar Aalto and completed in 1978. From the church the tour continues to the Lahti City Hall designed by Eliel Saarinen (please note: short indoor tour is possible only during working hours). The Lahti City Hall was completed in 1912 and represents the art nouveau style.
Free evening and independent dinner.
After breakfast, optional wooden architecture tour in the harbour area of Lahti. The wood architecture park has been constructed in the vicinity of the Sibelius Hall in Lahti and it consists of buildings and structures designed by the winners of the international Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award. The tour also includes a short tour at the Sibelius Concert Hall, coffee at the wooden Piano Pavilion restaurant and a visit at the Pro Puu “Pro Wood” Gallery, which promotes the collaboration of wood professionals. The premises include a gallery, shop, office and design facilities as well as an independently operating wood workshop.
Later on, drive along Finland’s most scenic route to Jyväskylä and on the way to Jyväskylä, visits at the Muurame Church designed by Aalto in 1929 and Aalto’s summer house, the Muuratsalo Experimental House. Also, before continuing to Jyväskylä, you will see Säynätsalo Town Hall designed by Aalto in 1952.
Accommodation in Hotel Yöpuu, right in the middle of everything, but one of a kind. Each room is entirely unique and different, and the independently owned hotel will serve you personally.
Independent lunch and free time. Dinner in Restaurant Pöllövaari.
Alvar Aalto lived and studied in Jyväskylä, and in total, there are nearly 30 buildings designed by Alvar Aalto in the Jyväskylä region – ranging from his earliest work to designs made during his final stages. The guided tour includes both private properties and public buildings such as: Casa Laurén 1925-28, Jyväskylä administrative and cultural centre 1964-1982, Defence Corps building 1926-1929, Nikolainkulma (Alvar Aalto’s first office), Workers’ Club 1924-1925, renovated Nuora House 1923-1924, Viitatorni apartment house 1957-1962, Aira apartment house 1924-1926, Jyväskylä University Campus 1951-1971 and Villa Karpio 1923. The tour ends with a visit at the Alvar Aalto Museum.
Independent lunch and dinner.
After breakfast, drive to Seinäjoki. On the way, visit at the UNESCO-listed wooden church by Leppänen in Petäjävesi. Accommodation in privately owned Hotel Alma. Special “Aalto Menu” dinner is served later on at Manor House of Uppala.
After breakfast you will discover the Aalto Centre, the administrative and cultural centre, in Seinäjoki including the Cross of the Plains Church 1957-1960, Parish Centre 1965-1966, Town Hall 1961-1962, municipal library 1964-1965, government office building 1966-1968 and Seinäjoki theatre 1986-1987 with a professional guide.
Please note: Town Hall and government office building are under renovation until the end of 2018.
Independent lunch and later in the afternoon drive to Alajärvi. Guided tour in Alajärvi including Town Hall 1966, Villa Flora 1926, Väinölä 1926, city library 1966, 1991 and visit at Alajärvi cemetery (Aalto’s family grave).
Drive back to Seinäjoki and independent dinner.
Breakfast and drive to Helsinki. Optional visit at the childhood home of Jean Sibelius in Hämeenlinna.
Helsinki
The maritime Helsinki is the biggest city in Finland and home for several buildings designed by Alvar Aalto. It also contains a wide range of other Finnish architecture from different centuries and decades. Born in the small rural municipality of Kuortane, Alvar Aalto graduated as an architect in 1921 from…
Helsinki / 1951-55
The Rautatalo Office Building was completed in Helsinki’s city centre in 1955. The building got its name (‘Iron House’) from the federation of Finnish hardware dealers that commissioned it. The main space is the light court, or marble courtyard, that extends from the first floor upwards. Aalto’s office won the…
Helsinki / 1935-36
In 1934, Aino and Alvar Aalto acquired a site in almost completely untouched surroundings at Riihitie in Helsinki’s Munkkiniemi. Aino and Alvar Aalto designed the building, whose simple, natural materials soften the form language of modern architecture. Designing their own home gave them an opportunity to make various structural and…
Helsinki / 1954-55, 1962-63
Alvar Aalto designed the building at Tiilimäki 20 in Munkkiniemi as his own office in 1955. Because of a number of large commissions, the office needed more space to work in. The building is only a short walk from Aalto’s own house, where the office had previously been located. Studio…
Helsinki / 1962/1967-75
Finlandia Hall was completed in Helsinki’s city centre in 1971 and the extra wing in 1975. The building was intended for congresses and concerts. The location of Finlandia Hall is part of the plan for Helsinki’s city centre that Aalto made in the 1960s. The building was intended to be…
Lahti / 1979
On the old church site of Kolkanmäki rises the architecturally impressive tower of the Church of the Cross, built 1978. This vital element of the Lahti cityscape is a masterwork of Alvar Aalto, elegantly mirroring the city hall – located on the southern end of an axis crossing the market…
Jyväskylä
In Jyväskylä, the city of lakes and hills in the heart of the Finnish Lakeland, you’ll find the largest number of masterful buildings in the whole world designed by the world-famous architect and academician Alvar Aalto. The impressive portfolio of 28 locations includes, for instance, the Alvar Aalto Museum, Muurame…
Jyväskylä / 1971-73
Alvar Aalto Museum has been closed for complete renovation of the Museum building. The Museum will be open to the public again in summer 2023. Alvar Aalto was commissioned to prepare drawings for Jyväskylä art museum, which were finished in autumn 1971. The building was completed in 1973. The Alvar…
Jyväskylä / 1949-52
The invitational competition for Säynätsalo Town Hall was held in 1949. Aalto won the competition with an entry marked ‘Curia’, and was immediately commissioned to prepare working drawings. Completed in 1952, the building is one of Aalto’s most admired designs. The dominant element of the building is the council chamber,…
Jyväskylä / 1952-54
Muuratsalo Experimental House, the summer home of Alvar and Elissa Aalto, is situated on the western shore of the island of Muuratsalo, on lake Päijänne. Within the grounds of the Experimental House are the house itself, a woodshed and a smoke sauna.
Seinäjoki
As an architectural whole, the Seinäjoki Civic Centre, or Administrative and Cultural Centre of Seinäjoki, is unique on a global scale. Seinäjoki is also the location of the Defence Corps Building built in 1924-26, one of the rare works from Aalto’s youth. The Administrative and Cultural Centre consists of six…
Alajärvi
The city of Alajärvi in the Southern Ostrobothnia is located close to Alvar Aalto’s childhood hometown Kuortane. Aalto spent his childhood summers in Alajärvi and later had his own summer house there up to 1940s. For him Alajärvi represented leisure time with family and relatives in contrast to the hectic…
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Salpausselänkatu 7
FIN-15110, Lahti