The Government Palace
Snellmaninkatu 1 A, 00170 Helsinki
The Government Palace is not open to the public.
The building was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel for the use of the Senate that had its seat in Helsinki, the administrative centre of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, which later became the capital of Finland. The building facing the Senate Square was completed in 1822.
The building is a typical neoclassical Empire palace. A period of change began in 1917 with the fall of the Tsar in Russia.
Finland declared independence on 6 December 1917, and the Economic Division of the Senate formally became the Government of Finland on 27 November 1918. Accordingly, the building which had previously housed the Senate now became known as the Government Palace.
The architecturally most valuable parts of the building are the almost entirely original main staircase and the Senate Assembly Hall, nowadays the Presidential Room.
