The Seinäjoki City Theatre ( Finnish: ''Seinäjoen kaupunginteatteri'') is the municipal theatre of the city of

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; , formerly ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Ostrobothnia. Seinäjoki is located in the western interior of the country and along the Seinäjoki (river), River Seinäjoki. The population of Sein ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

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. 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 municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

and

Lakeuden Risti Church Lakeuden Risti Church (; 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 larger administrative ...

, the theatre forms part of the city's Aalto Centre ( Finnish: ''Aalto-keskus''), which has been recognised by the

Finnish Heritage Agency The Finnish Heritage Agency (, ), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a cultural and research institutio ...

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, established in 1932. Originally known for its Shakespearean productions, the theatre now features a wide variety of performances, including musicals, ope ...

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