The Seinäjoki City Theatre (

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

: ''Seinäjoen kaupunginteatteri'') is the municipal theatre of the city of

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bru ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Architecture

The theatre building is notable for having been designed by the renowned Finnish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

. He sketched the initial designs already in 1968, although the building was only completed nearly two decades later in 1987. Aalto himself had died in 1976, therefore the design was finalised and the construction supervised by his widow and fellow architect,

Elissa Aalto Elissa Aalto (born Elsa Kaisa Mäkiniemi, 22 November 1922 – 12 April 1994) was a Finnish architect.Virtanen, Berit: "Obituary: Elissa Aalto", in ''The Independent'', 23 April 1994 Life Elsa Mäkiniemi graduated in architecture from the Helsink ...

. Situated alongside other prominent Aalto-designed buildings such as the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

and

Lakeuden Risti Church Lakeuden Risti Church ( fi, Lakeuden Ristin kirkko; lit. "Cross of the Plains Church") is a Lutheran church located in Seinäjoki, Finland. The church was designed by Alvar Aalto and built between 1957–1960. It was the first finished building of ...

, the theatre forms part of the city's Aalto Centre (

: ''Aalto-keskus''), which has been recognised by the Finnish Heritage Agency as a nationally important built cultural environment (''Valtakunnallisesti merkittävä rakennettu kulttuuriympäristö'').

Capacity

The theatre comprises four stages, with a total seating capacity of 689. Of these, the largest, 'Alvar', seats 409; 'Elissa', 100; 'Verstas', 60; and the restaurant theatre 120. The theatre company also operates an

open air theatre Regent's Park Open Air Theatre is an open-air theatre in Regent's Park in central London. The theatre Established in 1932, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is one of the largest theatres in London (1,256 seats) and is situated in Queen Mary� ...

in the summer, with a capacity for 890. The theatre attracts audiences in excess of 50,000 annually.

Recognition

In 2015, the Seinäjoki City Theatre was chosen as the 'Theatre of the Year' by the Association of Finnish Theatres.

References

External links

* {{Seinäjoki Cityscape Alvar Aalto buildings Seinäjoki Modernist architecture in Finland Theatres in Finland Theatres completed in 1987 Buildings and structures in South Ostrobothnia