Art exhibition in Bank of Finland´s main building 16 - 21 August 2011

In honour of the Bank of Finland celebrating its 200th year, the doors of the Bank's main building will once again be opened to the public. Members of the public will be welcome to get a taste of the Bank's history and art collection 16 – 21 August 2011, Tuesday to Friday 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 

The Neo-Renaissance head office of the Bank of Finland was designed by German architect Ludwig Bohnstedt and was completed in 1883, in the heart of central Helsinki's Kruununhaka district. The art exhibition includes four signed architectural drawings by Bohnstedt, which detail many of the original features of the building, which has undergone several alterations over the years. Images of the main building and the Bank's history are supplemented by old photographs, reminding us of such events as the destruction caused by wartime bombing in February 1944. In connection with the exhibition, a number of Bank employees will give various small presentations on the history of the Bank and its functions these days.

 

In all, approximately 80 works from the Banks overall art collection will be on display. The main staircase is looked down upon by Juho Rissanen's trio of stained glass windows – Harvest, Log Driving and the Herring Market – painted in 1933, and Lennart Segerstråle's Finlandia frescoes from 1943. On display too are the immense textile works, Gold Standard and Copper Standard, woven by Dora Jung for the Banking Hall in 1961 and 1962.  Similarly representative of pieces of art integral to the Bank's facilities are Eva Anttila's pictorial textile work woven in 1952 "Work and Life", as well as Tapio Wirkkala's "Southern Ostrobothnian River Landscape", sculpted in 1953 from airplane veneer.

 

The exhibition covers a period from the 1850s to today. One of the most renowned pieces in the Bank's collection is the first version of Akseli Gallen-Kallela's "Aino" triptych, from 1889.  Also on display are works by Werner Holmberg, Amélie Lundahl, Louis Sparre and Albert Edelfelt from Finland's so-called Golden Age of art.  Industrial design in art is represented by the works of Rut Bryk, Birger Kaipiainen, Mikael Schilkin and Timo Sarpaneva. The most contemporary artists in the collection include Matti Kujasalo, Jukka Mäkelä and Mari Rantanen, whose abstract paintings are part of the Bank's collection.

 

The open days' guides are members of staff from the Bank of Finland and the Financial Supervisory Authority. They have all familiarised themselves with the Bank's collection through the Bank of Finland's art club.  The art exhibition has been designed by leading art conservationist Hannele Heporauta from John Nurminen Prima.  The Bank of Finland owns an art collection numbering about 1,200 pieces in all. This collection has been gathered over the years, from the early 1900s onwards. The aim of the collection is to enhance the ambience of the Bank's working and meetings facilities. For visitors from abroad, the art works on display offer a window to Finnish culture and the nation's history.
 

 

In Finnish:  
Tue–Fri: 4.30 p.m. and 6 p.m. History of the Bank's Head Office, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The Bank of Finland Today.
Sat–Sun: 11.30 a.m. and 3 p.m. History of the Bank's Head Office, 12 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Bank of Finland Today

 

1 p.m. Huvudkontorets historia, 1.30 p.m. Finlands Bank idag

 

For more information: 
Jukka Valle, Chairman of the Bank's Art Club, tel. 010 831 2617, jukka.valle@bof.fi
Eeva Kristiina Lahtinen, Communications Officer, tel. 010 831 2908, eevakristiina.lahtinen@bof.fi
(in attendance 17.–21.8.)

 

The Bank of Finland Museum is open Tue–Fri 11a.m.–5 p.m., Sat-Sun 11 a.m.–4 p.m.                 Address: Snellmaninkatu 2, Helsinki, www.rahamuseo.fi/en​