Finland Guide
Helsinki and the south
The Lasipalatsi
Website: www.lasipalatsi.fi
The recently renovated Lasipalatsi was built for the 1940 Olympics as the main transit and entertainment building. Reopened in 1998, the functional two-storey building is typical of late 1930s Finnish Art Nouveau design, and contains some 25 shops, galleries, exhibition sites and cafés, as well as a media centre embodying the Finns' faith in publicly accessible new technology – enough to feed mind and body for a few hours at least. On the glass-fronted lower level check out the mbar (Mon & Tues 9am– midnight, Wed & Thurs 9am–2am, Fri & Sat 9am–3am, Sun noon– midnight), with internet terminals inset into glass-topped tables, and the glass-fronted studio of YLE, the main Finnish TV company. It overlooks the street and is periodically surrounded by hordes of teenagers anxious to catch a glimpse of the stars at work inside.