Seurasaari (Helsinki) | park, island, architecture - Do not use this category, open air museum, interesting place

 park, island, architecture - Do not use this category, open air museum, interesting place

Getting there: bus 24 from the end of Erottaja - on Mannerheim Prospect, near the Swedish Theatre

The island of Seurasaari is a popular outdoor recreation area and open-air museum. It was made a public park in 1890 and quickly became a popular place for picnics and parties. The people of Helsinki were introduced to many new things such as photography, ice-cream and fireworks at Seurasaari. To begin with people had to take a boat to the island, but a bridge was built in 1892. Seurasaari receives tens of thousands of visitors a year. The Midsummer celebration is particularly popular.

Seurasaari is a wooded island with rocks, hills, wetlands and herb-rich forests. The animals on the island are accustomed to people, but the southern shore is protected during the nesting season. Seurasaari covers about 46 hectares.

Seurasaari has no permanent residents. It is especially famous for the Folk Architecture Museum (www.nba.fi/en/seurasaari_openairmuseum)¶
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Seurasaari Open-Air Museum was founded in 1909. All the different provinces of Finland are represented in the well preserved old buildings and they give an overall view of Finnish countryside life from the 18th to the 20th century. At present, there are 87 separate buildings at Seurasaari Museum. ¶
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Address of the museum: Seurasaari, FI-00250 Helsinki, Finland ¶
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Tel. +358 9 4050 9660 ¶
Fax +358 9 4050 9665 summertime ¶
Fax. +358 9 4050 9579 wintertime ¶
seurasaarenulkomuseo@nba.fi ¶

Every summer, many Helsinkians come to Seurasaari to enjoy the rural, peaceful outdoor atmosphere. The height of the island's popularity is at Midsummer, when a huge bonfire (Finnish "juhannuskokko") is built on a small isle just off the island's coast, and ignited by a newly-wed couple. Thousands of Helsinkians watch the burning of the bonfire from both Seurasaari itself and from boats anchored near it.

Seurasaari also includes one of only two nudist beaches in Helsinki and one of only three in the entire country. Unlike the other nudist beaches, the beach is segregated for men and women separately with no unisex nudist area.