12.1.2012 – 29.1.2012
Carl Ludvig Engel: My home in Helsinki – my heart in Berlin

Cultural Centre G18

24.2.2012
Panel discussion: Arts as a tool for integration

“Helsinki as a gateway to other parts of Finland”

Palace and Cultural Network PACUNET ry. is organising a panel discussion on Helsinki’s role as an essential gateway enabling multicultural influence throughout Finland. What is the role of arts in bringing together people from all backgrounds and integrating them into the Finnish society?

30.3.2012
Play: Big Move

The play is an extensive essay on people who are forced to find their own cultural identity and to determine their place in society.

29.3.2012 – 24.4.2012
Helsinki Films

Stoa – the Cultural Centre of Eastern Helsinki

20.2.2012 – 7.5.2012
Sounding cities

A series of concerts and lectures organised by the University of Helsinki Music Society (HYMS)

11.5.2012 – 20.5.2012
Kallio Kukkii Festival - An urban intervention in Kallio

Kallio Kukkii Festival is celebrated between 11 and 20 May. This year, the cultural event is organised for the 18th time in succession, which makes it the oldest regional festival in Helsinki.

26.5.2012 – 27.5.2012
World Books - Democracy forum

World Books is part of the World Village Festival

29.5.2012 – 7.6.2012
Helsinki International Ballet Competition

Finnish National Opera

6.6.2012 – 10.6.2012
Art Meets Sand 2012

Art Meets Sand is a summertime event in Korkeasaari that brings international sand sculpture experts to Helsinki.

12.6.2012
Performance: Katulahja – Street Gifts

On Helsinki Day the streets, parks and alleys of the city will be filled with the gifts of music, poetry and dance.

12.6.2012
Grand Opening of Helsinki Day and traditional morning coffee

Mayor Jussi Pajunen opens the celebrations with a speech in front of the Helsinki City Museum (Sofiankatu 4) at 9am, followed by morning coffees and music inside the courtyard of City Hall at appro

2.6.2012 – 17.6.2012
The Helsinki Week

The Helsinki Week, which has grown around the Helsinki Day, offers experiences and things to do to suit all tastes.

14.5.2012 – 21.6.2012
Helsinki – Finland’s capital for 200 years

In November the Sytkyt Puppet Theatre toured Finland from Inari to Porvoo with a show on the history of Helsinki. After the show, the children created stories and drawings of their own hometowns.

26.6.2012
European Athletics Championships opening ceremony

The Opening Ceremony of the European Athletics Championships takes place in Senate Square on Tuesday, June 26, from 20 to 22 hrs.

10.7.2012
Finland sprints to international glory 100 years ago

Hannes Kolehmainen ran Finland on to the world map in the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games, where he was the first ever Finn to win athletics Olympic gold.

12.6.2012 – 30.7.2012
”From swamp land to capital – Helsinki, the city next to Suomenlinna”

To mark Helsinki’s 200 years as capital city, the Ehrensvärd Society will be offering visitors of Suomenlinna the opportunity to discover the shared history of Finland’s capital city and this unique island fortress.

5.6.2012 – 16.8.2012
Nature trips down Helsinki’s memory lane

Nature trips organised by the Environment Centre take you back 200 years into the history of the capital.

21.8.2012 – 23.8.2012
Helsinki Festival: Dominoes

The Helsinki Festival invites everyone to participate in building a giant domino route! In the large-scale game, breeze blocks dominos set one another in motion.

25.8.2012
Koskipäivä (‘rapids day’) fishing event

The Koskipäivä event has already become a tradition for the whole family and will be celebrated at the Vanhankaupunginkoski Rapids (Viikintie 1) on Saturday 25 August 2012 from 12 to 4 p.m. 

11.9.2012
Welcome to the Botanic Museum!

To mark the 200th anniversary year, the Botanic Museum will be opening its doors to the general public

18.9.2012
Sweden, Russia, Finland and the politics of 1812

Hanasaari, Espoo

22.9.2012 – 23.9.2012
The Era of Autonomy Festival – Car-Free Day

The Era of Autonomy Festival takes the city back to the 19th century.

10.10.2012
Aleksin syyssoitto: "Keisariajalta metron melkutukseen”

Folk dancers’ and musicians’ colourful cavalcade through Helsinki’s 200-year history as the national capital.

5.10.2012 – 25.10.2012
Eastern Helsinki XXVIII cultural celebration

"Helsinki 200 years as capital – active citizenship from generation to generation "

25.11.2012
Aleksanterinkatu Christmas lights 2012

The festive season begins as the Aleksanterinkatu Christmas lights are switched on

One of Helsinki’s oldest Christmas traditions, the Aleksanterinkatu Christmas lights were first lit in 1949 when the street’s shopkeepers sought to delight the city’s inhabitants, still recovering from World War II.

9.12.2012
Herttoniemi Christmas path

An event for the whole family in the beautiful Herttoniemi Manor Park and the dusky old Knusbacka farmhouse.

1.1.2012 – 31.12.2012
Jubilee year on the Union Axis – from Observatory Hill to Kallio Church

Unioninkatu is the Festival Street of the Helsinki 200 Years as Capital jubilee year. Emperor Alexander I of Russia, who elevated Helsinki to the status of capital, arrived in Helsinki along this street on his 1819 visit to the city, and named it Unioninkatu, or Union Street.

1.1.2012 – 31.12.2012
From neighbourhoods to communities

The Kassi service is now Sharetribe.

1.1.2012 – 31.12.2012
Events at the City Library

1.1.2012 – 31.12.2012
Pihlajamäki 50 years!

The first residents moved to Pihlajamäki, in north-eastern Helsinki, in 1962, making 2012 a 50th anniversary year for the purpose-built suburb.

31.12.2012
New Year’s Eve at Senate Square

The New Year will be greeted with a circus atmosphere at the traditional New Year’s Eve at Senate Square party, arranged by the City of Helsinki. The entire Finland is invited to the party via television and internet on Monday, December 31, 2012.