Sneak a peek at Helsinki’s new subterranean museum Amos Rex
After years of construction, the retro-modern, mostly-underground Amos Rex museum is now complete and opens to the public on Thursday.
Tokyo-based art collective teamLab's exhibit "Vortex of Light Particles". Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
Yle News
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The new Amos Rex museum in the heart of downtown Helsinki officially opens its doors on Thursday, 30 August, and plans to offer everything from hyper-modern and 20th century contemporary art to exhibits about ancient cultures.
Starting Thursday, Amos Rex will open its doors with a sprawling multimedia art exhibit by the Tokyo-based collective teamLab, a group of some 500 artists, programmers, computer graphics animators, mathematicians and other creators from various disciplines, according to the museum.
The iconic Bio Rex cinema in the building (called the Glass Palace, or Lasipalatsi) has also been fully restored and will also begin operations on Thursday. Built in 1936, it was one of the city's largest and most modern cinemas in its heyday.
Museum director Kai Kartio said Amos Rex is not just a museum, but a unique multi-use, experiential meeting space. He said the building has an adjoining cinema theatre and shops and restaurants that will create an experience not only unique in the Nordic region but Europe-wide, too.
The museum will be open six days per week, with some exceptions for holidays and will be closed on Tuesdays. Admission for adults is 18 euros, but prices are lower for some groups and free for people under 18.
Take a first look at what Helsinki's newest museum looks like below.
Part of the teamLab video exhibit. Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
Amos Rex ceiling structure and tubular, periscope-like skylights that reach up through the pavement of the building's inner yard. Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
teamLab's "Vortex of Light Particles". Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
A view of Amos Rex's neighbour, the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum, seen through windows on the second floor. Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
"Graffiti Nature," which invites museum-goers themselves to add and create objects and animal figures to walls and floors of the exhibit. Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
The restored Bio Rex cinema. Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
The Glass Palace's art deco stylings were restored to their original condition. Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
Amos Rex museum gift shop. The floor tiles are the original ones from the 1930s, when the Glass Palace was first built. Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
The museum's bubble-themed patterns are also found in its rest rooms. Image: Jussi Mankkinen / Yle
