Tennispalatsi

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Helsinki, Finland - apr 19th 2020: Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) is easy to recognise by a giant seagull head on top of the entrance., License Type: media, Download Time: 2026-04-16T15:47:07.000Z, User: esterpyykko45, Editorial: true, purchase_order: 65050 - Digital Destinations and Articles, job: Lonely Planet, client: app content, other: Ester Pyykko

While in Kamppi, you will notice a white hall-like structure with an arched roof. This is the 1938-completed Tennispalatsi (Tennis Palace), originally meant as a car maintenance hall for the 1940 Olympic Games (which were subsequently postponed until 1952 because of WWII), but which also included four tennis courts. The building by Helge Lundström took a long time to gain merit in people's minds and was left to deteriorate since the 1960s.

Tennis Palatsi exteior.
Exterior view of Tennispalatsi in Helsinki, Finland. Tim Bird/Lonely Planet

Finally, in the 1990s, the City of Helsinki started to investigate the possibility of transforming the space into a cultural center, and it now hosts HAM (Helsinki Art Museum; hamhelsinki.fi), an art gallery with changing exhibitions and a permanent space for Tove Jansson's work, as well as a cinema complex. Today, Tennispalatsi is also one of the prime examples of the functionalist style in Helsinki.

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