The Design Museum, located in Helsinki's Design District, is one of the oldest in the world. It was founded in 1873 as an educational collection of handicrafts and design objects. At that time it was called the Museum of Applied Arts.
Since 1978, the Helsinki Design Museum has been housed in a historic building dating from 1894. It is a former school built to the design of architect Gustaf Nyström in the striking Neo-Gothic style with its characteristic sharp forms and spires.
The collection introduces visitors to a vast range of applied art from both Finland and around the world. The museum's collections contain more than 75,000 objects and 40,000 drawings related to the history of design, including industrial design, fashion, graphics, and many other fields.
Themed exhibitions devoted to different periods of history are constantly held here. In addition, the Design Museum is well known abroad, so its traveling exhibitions are regularly organized in other countries.
