Elegance

Tuomarinkylä Manor from the 1790s stands on a hill surrounded by fields in northern Helsinki. Exhibition Elegance in the main building presents interior design in Helsinki from baroque to functionalism through the City Museum's fine collection of furniture and decorative objects.

The Elegance exhibition introduces visitors to a range of styles from baroque to functionalism using a selection of interiors and choice items representative of a given style selected from Helsinki City Museum’s fine furniture and interior design object collections.

The exhibition features an extensive sample of objects used to decorate and adorn Helsinki homes through the centuries. Besides furniture, there are works of art, handicraft, silver, glassware, ceramics, furnishing fabrics, fashion plates and designers’ sketches on show. 

The exhibition features not only the main characteristics of the various styles, but also the novelties and inventions influencing interior design in different eras.

One of the most handsome interiors in the exhibition is the von Frenckell family’s Biedermeier music room. The generous support of the Friends of the Museum has enabled us to conserve some splendid pieces of furniture that have long been in storage owing to their poor condition and which the Museum has lacked the resources to restore.

Guided group tours of the Elegance exhibition are available to order. Child visitors have a separate room featuring a miniature world of dolls house furniture and services through the different styles.

History of the museum building