15.5.2026
Rally spirit, beloved graphic art and intriguing design in Jyväskylä Museums’ summer 2026
During the Jyväskylän Kesä Festival week from 1 to 7 July, visitors can enjoy free admission to the Jyväskylä Art Museum and the Craft Museum of Finland by presenting a Jyväskylän Kesä ticket.
The main exhibition at the Craft Museum of Finland, Curly Birch: The Tree Pressed by the Devil, dives into the world of Finland’s most valuable wood. The exhibition offers an entirely new perspective on a traditional Finnish material, as design students from Aalto University’s Wood Studio have given curly birch a new life. The students have designed and created lighting, furniture and other works combining craftsmanship, art, digital design and a fresh approach to wood design.
Visitors can explore the possibilities of log construction in the free-admission exhibition From Forest to Sauna by Sami Repo, where inspiration for building a smoke sauna has been drawn from both Karelia and Japan. In the Alley Gallery exhibition space, visitors can also discover the meeting point of national costumes and sportswear in Lauri Greis’s Karelian Sportlore exhibition.
The Window Gallery exhibition Handcrafted Summer presents Finnish handicrafts in a sales exhibition format. On 2 July, as part of the Jyväskylän Kesä Festival, visitors can attend a lecture by artisan Saija Lehtonen titled Handmade from Local Natural Materials.
Visitors should also stop by the exhibitions Craftstories - Tales of Finnish Skill, celebrating Finnish craftsmanship, and A Timeless Tradition - Finnish National Costume.
At the Jyväskylä Art Museum, visitors can enjoy beloved printmaker Kirsi Neuvonen’s exhibition sensescape / sense ● scape, which brings together works from five decades of the artist’s career across different periods, themes and techniques. The exhibition is divided into five atmospheric sections, featuring early print works from the 1980s, a forest installation hung at children’s eye level, much-loved costume motifs and recent monotype works.
Visitors can meet Kirsi Neuvonen at artist talks on 1 July. Guided tours of the sensescape / sense ● scape exhibition will take place on 25 June, 23 July and 13 August.
The joyful and interactive Tourujoki art exhibition invites visitors to try, touch, move and wonder. In July, the museum will organise two visual arts camps for children and adults requiring additional support. Advance registration is required.
At Gallery Ratamo visitors can see photography exhibitions Men with No Mountains by Ella Nieminen and Elias Lahtinen, alongside Jenni Toivonen’s The River Carries Flowers. Exhibitions are open until 2 August.
On 6 August, Gallery Ratamo opens Cat Days, an exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frans Toikkanen. The exhibition presents his well-known mezzotint cat-themed prints and highlights his perceptive, humorous and humane portrayal of cats, as well as his significant career and international recognition.
At the Aalto2 Museum Centre, gravel flies in the Museum of Central Finland's exhibition Rally Finland – 75 Years of Gravel, Heroes, and a Travelling Circus. The exhibition takes visitors into the heart of Central Finland rally culture, from gravel roads and pine forests to field car parks and the spirit of volunteer teamwork. The event evolves through time, moves hundreds of thousands of people and sparks strong opinions both for and against.
At the Museum of Central Finland, Freddy Fabris: The Renaissance Series photography exhibition places classical masterpieces of art inside a car repair garage. The witty and inventive series became a viral sensation on social media, won multiple photography awards and toured galleries internationally between 2016 and 2020.
At the Alvar Aalto Museum, visitors can reflect on architecture and the built environment through two exhibitions this summer. The Best Not to Demolish examines building demolition and its alternatives at a time when the built environment is changing faster than ever before. 13 Stories of Humane Design approaches architecture through storytelling. Writer Sanna Puutonen has immersed herself in Aalto’s buildings through the experiences of their users, resulting in thirteen fictional stories that bring the buildings to life through snapshots of everyday moments.
Do not forget the permanent exhibitions Exploring Central Finland and AALTO: Work and Life.
At the Craftmen's Houses, visitors can immerse themselves in historical craftspeople’s life with extended summer opening hours from Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00 to 17.00. In June, the smaller sites of the Museum of Central Finland will also reopen, including the Pienmäki Farm Buildings Museum, which celebrates its opening event on 16 June with a rich programme. The Working-Class Home Museum in Niitynpää opens on 25 June, and guided tours of the Studio Home of the Heiska Family can be booked from 24 June onwards.
The Craftmen's Houses and Museum Shop Sparvin museum buildings, the Coppersmith’s House and the Carpenter’s House, are among the oldest surviving buildings in Jyväskylä and rare examples of the city’s original construction style dating back to its founding in 1837.
The Pienmäki Farm Buildings Museum and its historic courtyard transport visitors effortlessly into the past. The oldest buildings on the site date back to the 18th century, and Pienmäki is recognised as a nationally significant built cultural environment. The museum celebrates its opening day on 16 June with an extensive programme, and admission is free throughout the summer until 15 August.
At the Working-Class Home Museum in Niitynpää, visitors can experience everyday life as it once was and listen to the stories hidden within the small log building. The museum is open from 25 June to 6 August on Thursdays from 13.00 to 16.00. Admission is free.
At Studio Home of the Heiska Family, visitors can explore the unique art-filled home of Jonas, Maikki and Vappu Heiska on guided tours starting from 24 June. The more than one-hundred-year-old building, together with its objects, artworks and photographs, offers a journey through time and into the life of an artist family spanning two generations. Guided tours are available on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 16.00 to 17.00 and on Fridays from 9.00 to 10.00 until 28 August. Bookings are made via the Aalto2 online shop.
Craft Museum of Finland
Kauppakatu 25, Jyväskylä
[email protected], 050 311 8884
craftmuseum.fi
Jyväskylä Art Museum
Kauppakatu 23 Jyväskylä
[email protected], 050 577 2712
jyvaskyla.fi/taidemuseo
Aalto2 Museum Centre
Alvar Aallon katu 7, Jyväskylä
[email protected], 044 790 9827
aalto2.museum
Gallery Ratamo
Veturitallinkatu 6, Jyväskylä
[email protected], 050 311 8901
jyvaskyla.fi/ratamo
Craftmen's Houses
Cygnaeuksenkatu 2, Jyväskylä
[email protected], 050 563 8823
jyvaskyla.fi/keskisuomenmuseo/kasityolaismuseo
Museum sites of the Museum of Central Finland
jyvaskyla.fi/keskisuomenmuseo/tervetuloa/museoperheemme