There will be no Guggenheim museum in Helsinki

On the night of December 1, after long debate, the City Council of Helsinki voted against the construction of the Guggenheim Museum in the capital of Finland.

According to Artforum , the project was rejected for financial reasons. The decision was made by 53 votes against 32. A few hours before the meeting, a protest was held at the city council building, the participants of which stated that it was better not to spend money on a new museum, but to invest them in existing ones.

The idea of ​​the Finnish branch of the Guggenheim Museum arose many years ago. Inspired by the success of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spanish, the Helsinki City Hall in 2011 turned to the Guuggenheim Foundation with a request to study the possibility of building the next Guggenheim museum in the Finnish capital. In 2012, municipal deputies voted against the museum project, considering it too expensive for the city budget.

In the summer of 2014, a project competition was announced, a year later the jury of the Guggenheim Foundation chose the project of the French Bureau Moreau Kusunoki Architectes “Art in the city” from 1715 applications.

According to architects, the museum complex on the embankment in the center of Helsinki included several one -story pavilions interconnected by transitions. The central element of the composition and the only multi-storey building was supposed to be a gang-glazed tower at the top, and the main materials of all buildings were glass and a dark tree, which refers to the Finnish national tradition. The authors of the project believe that he will be in harmony with the urban environment of Helsinki.

The cost of work was estimated at $ 147 million. A museum with a total area of ​​12 thousand square meters was supposed to be opened in 2018, but construction could only begin after the project approval by the City Council of Helsinki.