Heritage Days 2025: Visit favourite cultural spots of the locals—and give your own tips

A wide range of events will take place at built heritage sites, arranged by local heritage associations, museums and many other actors across Finland. A photo challenge and a storytelling competition for children and young people will also attract people to explore and document the built treasures of the country.

The theme of the European Heritage days 2025 in Finland is “Our Built Heritage”. The built heritage is made up of buildings and environments that represent different time periods and reflect the identities of the surrounding area. Villages, homes, schools and other meeting places become meaningful because of their distinctive features and the stories told about them. The European Heritage Days show how the built heritage can be preserved and used so that it will also be kept for future generations.  

Guided tours, open houses, and much more

During the open houses of the Heritage Days, you can visit buildings designed by Alvar Aalto and an old spirits factory in Rajamäki. You are also invited to take a sauna bath in celebration of the “Open sauna benches” day in the Uusikaupunki region. The Heritage Days events are mostly free of charge.

• Heritage days events | Finnish Local Heritage Federation

Record cultural heritage and reveal your favourite place

The world’s largest photo competition, Wiki Loves Monuments is here again from 1 to 30 September 2025. This is the seventh time it is also organised in Finland. The competition inspires us to take pictures of the built heritage and highlight the treasures of our own picture archives. The most important thing is to record our common cultural heritage, thus making it visible and widely known.

• Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 – Photography competition of cultural heritage sites 1–30 September

In the theme year of the built heritage, the photo competition also includes a campaign to collect information on built heritage that people consider significant in 2025. The site can be any building or place that is important to you, such as a neighbourhood, a local park, a leisure facility or a travel destination. Let us know your favourite place:

• Inquiry on our built heritage (in Finnish)  

What about the favourite places of children and young people?

The Cultural Heritage-makers competition seeks information on children’s and young people’s favourite places in the built environment. It will be open for children aged 6–17, from 1 September to 15 December 2025. Participation will take place in groups, supported by the instructor in schools, in early childhood education and care, and in club and leisure activities.

Heritage Days is the largest set of public events in Europe

Every year, tens of thousands of events are organised under the European Heritage Days. The Heritage Days are celebrated across 48 countries at the initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Commission.

In Finland, the European Heritage Days are coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and the Finnish Local Heritage Federation in cooperation with the National Board of Antiquities, the Finnish National Agency for Education, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Association of Cultural Heritage Education in Finland and the Finnish Museums Association.

Inquiries

Hanna Hämäläinen 
coordinator 
[email protected] 
tel + 295 250 095