The Finnish Civic Museum

Eliel Saarinen’s Helsinki Central Railway Station has been a symbol of Finnish urban culture for over a century. Internationally recognised as a design classic, the station has served both as a gateway to the world and as part of Finland’s collective self-image.   
 
Now, the Finnish Civic Museum, located in the station’s western wing, opens a new chapter in this story. The exhibition space makes culture as accessible as public transport: it brings Finnish art and design into the everyday paths of people moving through the station.   

Welcome to a new platform for Finnish art — one that moves with the rhythm of the city and belongs to all of us.   

Free entry daily at 06:00–24:00.  
  
The first-floor exhibition space is fully accessible. 

Jukka Granström is a Helsinki-based photographer who has worked primarily in photojournalism for over 40 years. The photographs in Steissi 1980 were taken when he was in his early twenties, shortly after moving to Helsinki from Espoo and becoming deeply engaged in photography.

At the time, the capital and its inhabitants appeared to him as compelling subjects. Throughout the 1980s, Granström photographed Helsinki extensively, with a particular focus on life in the city centre.

All the images in the exhibition, presented at the Civic Museum in May 2026, were taken during the year 1980 at Helsinki Central Railway Station, the Asematunneli underpass and Rautatientori Square.

Granström’s earlier exhibition, Stadi 1980 at Laterna Magica, explored the same period across a wider area.

The western wing of Helsinki Central Railway Station is opening in a way that reveals its true scale and potential for new business. Its monumental, historically charged interiors offer a rare combination of architectural value, national visibility and a daily audience of thousands who pass by. 

The Civic Museum demonstrates what the western wing can become through culture — and what it can enable for an operator ready to bring a bold vision into the next century of the station’s life. 

Explore the spaces, get in touch, and secure your place in Finland’s most iconic and most frequented building >>