With its distinctive fan-shaped tail, Alvar Aalto's Public Library is a stunner. Inside, the grid windows cast spectacular decorative light and shadows on the ceiling and stacks. An underground passage connects the Aalto library with the Apila library, an equally visually arresting addition that opened in 2012.
Kaupunginkirjasto
Finland's West Coast
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.09 MILES
Alvar Aalto’s crowning achievement, Lakeuden Risti Church, is recognisable by its oddly secular steeple–clock tower (built with funds from a voluntary…
0.05 MILES
Although Alvar Aalto designed the town theatre in 1968, its construction was not completed until the 1980s (under the supervision of his wife and partner,…
0.04 MILES
The glittering blue-tiled wave-like crest of the town hall incorporates architect Alvar Aalto's 'signature' (aalto is Finnish for wave).
Suojeluskunta & Lotta Svärd Museo
0.25 MILES
Designed by Alvar Aalto, this historic house was built in the 1920s for the use of the civil guard and the Lotta Svärd organisation (a voluntary women's…
26.87 MILES
OK, so it's a hole in the ground. But it's a deep one (23m), caused by millions of years of glacial erosion. You can descend a metal staircase into the…
Nearby Finland's West Coast attractions
0.04 MILES
The glittering blue-tiled wave-like crest of the town hall incorporates architect Alvar Aalto's 'signature' (aalto is Finnish for wave).
0.05 MILES
Although Alvar Aalto designed the town theatre in 1968, its construction was not completed until the 1980s (under the supervision of his wife and partner,…
0.09 MILES
Alvar Aalto’s crowning achievement, Lakeuden Risti Church, is recognisable by its oddly secular steeple–clock tower (built with funds from a voluntary…
4. Suojeluskunta & Lotta Svärd Museo
0.25 MILES
Designed by Alvar Aalto, this historic house was built in the 1920s for the use of the civil guard and the Lotta Svärd organisation (a voluntary women's…
26.87 MILES
OK, so it's a hole in the ground. But it's a deep one (23m), caused by millions of years of glacial erosion. You can descend a metal staircase into the…