City Guide: Top Historic Sights in Tampere, Finland

Tampere Old Church

The old church of Tampere is a wooden cruciform shape church built in 1824-1825. It’s the oldest public building in the downtown. The church was designed by Carlo Bassi. The belfry was added in 1828-1829. The first public park in Tampere was built around the church in 1835.The old church is popular for weddings and it’s open around the year from Wednesday to Sunday.

Founded: 1824-1825 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Tampere City Hall

Tampere neo-renaissance city hall was built in 1890 and was designed by Georg Schreck. At first all city bureaus were located to the city hall. During the Great Strike in 1905, the so-called "Red Manifest" was read from the balcony of the Tampere City Hall. The manifest was drawn up on behalf of the strike committee by several leaders of the Finnish Social Democrats. Among the demands made in the manifest were the resigna ...

Founded: 1890 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Hatanpää Manor

First record of Hatanpää dates back to year 1540 and the first manor was built in the 1690s. Hans Boije (1717-1781) improved the farming business and increased Hatanpää prosperity significantly. He also built an English garden to Hatanpää with and hired 30 gardeners to maintain it. Boije was a freemasonry and added an stone to the park with Greek engraving Egno Kyrios tous ontas antou (Lord k ...

Founded: 1883-1885 | Location: Tampere, Finland

The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas

The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas is located in the historical Finlayson cotton mill area. At Werstas, you can visit the Textile Industry Museum, the Steam Engine Museum as well as the Labour Museum's changing and permanent exhibitions.The exhibitions at Werstas offer an overview of the history of the industrial era, worker population and civil society from different perspectives. The constantly refreshed exhibitions pres ...

Founded: Museum founded in 1993 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Finlayson

Finlayson ironworks and metallurgy factory was established in 1820 by the Scottish industrialist James Finlayson when he was noticed the energy potential of the free rapids in Tampere. Machine business was not very profitable and Finlayson started to manufacture and weave cotton yarn and textiles. James Finlayson sold the factory to Carl Samuel Nottbeck and Georg Rauch already in 1836. Oldest still existing building, "Kuu ...

Founded: 1820-1920 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Lenin Museum

The Lenin museum is located at the old Worker's Hall of Tampere, where V. I. Lenin and Josef Stalin met for the first time in 1905. It was opened in 1946 to present the life and ideas of Lenin. Today the museum focuses more widely to material related to Lenin's life and activities and the history of the Soviet Union.

Founded: 1946 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Tampere Orthodox Church

The Orthodox church of Tampere was built in Russian romantic style, with onion style cupolas, and was completed in 1899. The architect of the Russian army, T.U. Jasikov, drew the floor plan. The church was consecrated in 1899 to Saint Alexander Nevsky, a Novgorodian who in 1240 fought against the Catholic Swedes and two years later the Catholic Teutonic Knights with equal success, and was accordingly canoniced for these n ...

Founded: 1896-1899 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Tampere Art Museum

The Tampere Art Museum was established in 1931. It was founded by the Tampere Art Society which had already been collecting art and arranging art exhibitions in Tampere since the beginning of the last century.The museum is renowned for its active exhibition policy, especially exhibitions presenting ancient cultures, wide-ranging publication activities, the Young Artist of the Year event and Moominvalley, which can be foun ...

Founded: 1838 (Art Museum 1931) | Location: Tampere, Finland

Tampere Cathedral

The national romantic cathedral was designed by Lars Sonck and built between 1902 and 1907. In the beginning of the 20th century Russification was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at limiting the special status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and possibly the termination of its autonomy. This caused the rise of the national romanticism in Finland and Tampere Cathedral was one of the most remarkable examples ...

Founded: 1902-1907 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Messukylä Old Church

The older church in Messukylä, dedicated to St. Michael, is the oldest building in Tampere. First wooden church in Messukylä was built in the 15th century, probably 1434. The present stone church was built to replace the previous one probably between 1510-1530. The oldest still existing part is the sacristy built in the end of 15th century. During the Civil War (1918), Messukylä was the scene of heavy batt ...

Founded: 1510-1530 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Näsilinna Palace

The Neo-Baroque palace Näsilinna was built by Finlayson factory owner Peter von Nottbeck in 1898. It was designed by architect K.A.Wrede. Due to deaths in the owner's family, Näsilinna was soon left without residents, and the city of Tampere bought it in 1905. It was changed to museum already in 1908.Later Näsilinna was unoccupied for years and dilapidated badly. The restoration was completed in 2015. The f ...

Founded: 1898 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Amuri Museum of Workers' Housing

Starting from the 19th century, Amuri was originally mainly a residence area for the workers of the Finlayson factory. It consisted of blocks of wooden houses built together, which were replaced by low-rise apartment buildings in the 1970s and 1980s. In the Amuri Museum of Workers' Housing a part of old Amuri is preserved. The museum features five residential buildings that still stand in their original locations and ...

Founded: 1880-1970s | Location: Tampere, Finland

Finlayson Church

The church of Finlayson is an unique part of the industrial heritage in Tampere. The Finlayson metallurgy and cotton industry was the employer for thousands of people in the 19th century. The cotton mill was permitted to hire their own factory priest In 1846 and the red brick church was completed in 1879 near the gate of factory site.The church was designed by the city architect F.L. Calonius and represents the British co ...

Founded: 1879 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Alexander Church & The Church Park

The neogothic Alexander Church was built in 1880-1881. The church was named after the Russian tzar Alexander II. It was damaged badly by fire in 1937, but renovated next year.Nearby the church is Pyynikki Church Park, which functioned as a cemetery from the year 1785 to the late 1880's. Although the cemetery site has been a park over over hundred years, there are still many old tombstones existing. According the legend af ...

Founded: 1880-1881 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Rajaportin Sauna

Rajaportin sauna is the oldest working public sauna in Finland. It was founded in 1906 by Hermanni Lahtinen and his wife Maria. The main building with bakery and a shop was erected first, then followed by a smaller cottage, the sauna and a so called “taylor’s house”.Today, the Rajaportti block belongs to the city of Tampere. Since 1989 the Pispala sauna association has been responsible for activities at ...

Founded: 1906 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Kaleva Church

Kaleva Church in Tampere is very exceptional church building in Finland. The modern church was designed by Reima and Raili Pietilä and it was completed in 1966.Vertical windows reaching from floor to ceiling give lot of light inside highlight the cathedral-style height of the building. Kaleva Church is characterized by space, light and and long shapes inside. There are also lot of wooden surfaces inside the church. The l ...

Founded: 1964-1966 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Pispala City District

Pispala is a city district located on the northern slope of Pispalanharju, the highest esker in Finland. Together with Pyynikki, Pispala is widely considered the most beautiful district of Tampere and tourists are often guided there for the view and the unique urban design features of the area.Pispala is named after the House of Pispa, which had the obligation to house the bishops during their travel. Pispala was all farm ...

Founded: 1900s | Location: Tampere, Finland

Teisko Church

Teisko church was completed in 1788, but it was inaugurated and taken into use in August 1787 while the construction work was still incomplete. This was necessary due to the poor condition of the previous church. The bell-tower was made ten years later by Åkerblom. The basic form of the church is a cross with sloped inside angles. Of the many repairs performed on this wood-framed church, the overall look of the bui ...

Founded: 1788 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Mannerheim Statue

The statue of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867-1951), Marshal of Finland, was made by the sculptor Evert Porila in 1939. The statue is located at the hill, where Mannerheim watched the occupation of Tampere in the Finnish Civil War (1918). He was commander of the white army, which occupied Tampere from red guards after the bloody battle .The statue was originally planned to be situated in the centre of Tampere, but the S ...

Founded: 1939-1956 | Location: Tampere, Finland

Top Historic Sights in Tampere, Finland