Culture

Museums:
The biggest historical museum in Helsinki is the National Museum of Finland,
which displays a vast historical collection from prehistoric times to the 21st
century. Other major historical museum is the Helsinki City Museum, which
introduces visitors to Helsinki's 500-year history. The University of Helsinki
also has many significant museums, including the University Museum and the
Natural History Museum. The Finnish National Gallery consists of three
museums: Ateneum Art Museum for classical Finnish art, Sinebrychoff Art
Museum for classical European art, and Kiasma Art Museum for modern art.
Theatres:
Helsinki has three major theatres: The Finnish National Theatre, the Helsinki
City Theatre, and the Finland Swedish Svenska Teatern. The city's main
musical venues are the Finnish National Opera, the Finlandia concert hall and
the Helsinki Music Centre. Bigger concerts and events are usually held at one
of the city's two big ice hockey arenas: the Hartwall Areena or the Helsinki Ice
Hall. Helsinki has Finland's largest fairgrounds.
Music:
Helsinki is home to two full-size symphony orchestras, the Helsinki
Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both of
which perform at the Helsinki Music Centre concert hall. The Finnish National
Opera, the only full-time, professional opera company in Finland, is located in
Helsinki. The opera singer Martti Walln, one of the company's long-time
soloists, was born and raised in Helsinki. Many bands have originated in
Helsinki, including Hanoi Rocks, HIM (His Infernal Majesty), Stratovarius, The
69 Eyes, Finntroll, Ensiferum, Wintersun, The Rasmus, Apocalyptica,
Nightwish, Wintersun, Sonata Arctica, Children of Bodom, Lordi and Amorphis.
Finnish love for metal music and the success of Finnish metal bands has often
been explained with references to the long, dark, cold winters and the
melancholic nature, along with the natural beauty of the landscape and rich
folklore tradition on which the lyrical themes are often based on.
Art:
Helsinki also hosts many film festivals. Most of them are small venues, but
some have gained renown even abroad. The most prolific would be the Love
& Anarchy film festival (also known as Helsinki International Film Festival),
which features films on a wide spectrum. Night Visions Film Festival on the
other hand focuses on genre cinema, screening horror, fantasy and science
fiction films in very popular movie marathons that take whole night. Another

popular film festival is DocPoint, a festival that focuses solely on documentary

cinema. Helsinki Arena hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, the first
Eurovision Song Contest arranged in Finland, following Lordi's win in 2006.
Helsinki is home of some gobal brands such as Nokia, Kone and Marimekko,
popular events, like the annual Helsinki Design Week, outstanding education
and research institutions, such as the University of Art and Design Helsinki. At
the Senate Square in September / October 2010, the largest open-air art
exhibition ever in Finland took place: About 1.4 million people saw the
international exhibition of United Buddy Bears.