North Karelian Museum Hilma thanks all visitors and looks forward to the future

North Karelian Museum Hilma closed its doors in Carelicum on December 13, 2023. The museum’s current focus is on planning and producing its new exhibitions. The museum will reopen in 2025 in the old City Hall building, which served as Joensuu city’s administrative building until the end of 2023.

The renovation process is extensive. The planning of the new museum has been carried out in cooperation with the Finnish Heritage Agency, several architectural companies, various design professionals, as well as the city’s facility maintenance and museum services.

Joensuu City Hall, designed by architect Eliel Saarinen, was completed in 1914 on Rantakatu, next to the city’s main market square and across from the lyceum, which now serves as an art museum. In addition to the city’s administration, the City Hall building has hosted numerous other services over the past century. Besides Joensuu City Theater and a restaurant, which are still in operation today, the building has housed the police, the fire department, the city library, the Finnish Broadcasting Company and the Bank of Finland. North Karelian Museum’s very first exhibitions were also originally on display in the building between 1920 and 1949.