Finlandia Hall

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Finlandia Hall
Finnish: Finlandia-talo Swedish: Finlandiahuset
Finlandia Hall in September 2008
Location within Finland
General information
Location	Finlandia Park
Coordinates	60°10′33″N 24°55′59″E / 60.17583°N 24.93306°E / 60.17583; 24.93306
Construction started	December 1967
Completed	2 December 1971
Technical details
Floor area	20,524 m2 (220,920 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Alvar Aalto
Main contractor	Construction Office Arvonen Oy (withdrew from the project) Arvo Westerlund Oy (completed the project)

The Finlandia Hall is a congress and event venue in the centre of Helsinki on the Töölönlahti Bay, owned by the City of Helsinki. The building, which was designed by architect Alvar Aalto, was completed in 1971. Every detail in the building is designed by Aalto. The designs were completed in 1962, with building taking place between 1967 and 1971. The Congress Wing was designed in 1970 and built in 1973–1975. In 2011, the building was expanded with new exhibition and meeting facilities. Finlandia Hall is known as the venue for the OSCE Summit (Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe) held in August 1975, attended by 35 world leaders, including the leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, and the President of the United States, Gerald Ford.^[1]

The inauguration of the Finlandia Hall was celebrated on 2 December 1971. The inauguration concert included the first performance of Einojuhani Rautavaara's Meren tytär ('Daughter of the Sea') and Aulis Sallinen's Symphony (opus 24), as well as Sibelius's violin concerto with Isaac Stern as the violin soloist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.