Art Museum, electric trams and Jugend Turku

Around 1900 Turku dressed up for a new century. A granite palace for art rose on a hill, architects built houses called the Deer and the Panther, and on 22 December 1908 yellow electric trams began to hum through the streets.

Art Nouveau · Grand Duchy

The big story

Art Museum, electric trams and Jugend Turku

In the first years of the 1900s Turku grew more confident. Wealthy citizens paid for an art museum, new apartment houses were covered in curving lines and animal figures, and the town got electric trams. Turku was still part of the Russian Empire, but it looked to Europe for its style.

A palace for art

An art society. The Turku Art Society was founded in 1891. It still runs the art museum and owns its collection Well documented.
A competition. In 1899 the architect Gustaf Nyström won a two-stage competition for the museum building. He had also designed the Market Hall (stop 32) Well documented.
A gift to the town. Two Turku merchants, the brothers Ernst and Magnus Dahlström, paid for the building and gave it to the city to house the society’s collection Well documented.
Finished in 1904. The museum stands on Puolalanmäki hill at the top of Aurakatu. It was the second building in Finland built specially to be a museum Well documented.
Granite outside. It has a brick frame faced with granite. The city calls it a “National Romantic granite palace” Well documented.
Saved from damp. Damp problems began in the 1960s. In a renovation finished in 2005, the granite facade was taken down so that ventilation could be fitted behind it, and a slim tower of steel and glass was added for the stairs and lift. The museum now holds over 7,600 works Well documented.

Jugend Turku

A new style. Around 1900 a new style spread across Europe. It was called Art Nouveau in French and Jugendstil in German, and in Finland simply Jugend. It loved curving lines, plants, animals and towers. The Finnish branch, National Romanticism, often used rough granite and motifs from forests and old legends Likely.
Strandell’s animals. Frithiof Strandell was Turku’s leading Jugend architect. He designed Hjorten, “the Deer” (1904), at Kaskenkatu 4, where he also lived, and Pantern, “the Panther” (1910), next door, called the best example of Art Nouveau in Turku Well documented.
More by Strandell. He also designed Betel Church (1906) and Albatross (1911), behind the Art Museum, which was known from the start as the “House of Artists” Well documented.
A student’s church. Lars Sonck won the competition for St Michael’s Church in 1894, aged 23 and still a student. The church was built in 1899–1905. It began as Neo-Gothic and turned towards Jugend as the work went on. Its spire is 77 metres high Well documented.
A castle by the river. Jugendlinna, “the Jugend castle”, by Knut Wasastjerna and Gustaf A. Lindberg, has two towers and decorated stone doorways. Sources disagree on whether it was finished in 1908 or 1909 Debated.

Electric trams

A false start. Turku had a horse tram from 4 May 1890, but it closed on 31 October 1892 because it cost too much Well documented.
A German company. On 31 May 1906 the city gave the German electrical company AEG the right to build a tramway and a power plant. The company was to run the trams for 40 years, but the city could buy them after ten Well documented.
22 December 1908. Electric trams began to run just before Christmas 1908 Well documented.
Two lines. The first lines were a figure-of-eight circle through the centre and a line to and from the harbour at Kanavaniemi. In 1909 they were joined into one route. The trams linked the railway station, the Cathedral and the Market Square Well documented.
War changes the owner. When the First World War broke out in 1914, the German-owned company was taken over by the authorities. On 15 April 1919 the city bought the tramway for 4.7 million marks Well documented.

How do we know?

The museum’s history comes from the museum and the City of Turku, and the buildings from architecture guides. For the trams, the best sources are Finnish and English Wikipedia articles, which draw on a history of the Turku tramway. One list gives the opening of the electric trams as 2 December 1908 instead of 22 December, probably a typing error.

Tap a building.

Seven buildings of Jugend Turku, 1904–1911. Tap a building to read about it.Simplified drawings, not likenesses or to scale. The animals stand for the houses’ names.

Why it matters

Many of the buildings from these years still shape the centre of Turku: the Art Museum at the end of Aurakatu, the spire of St Michael’s, and the Jugend houses on Kaskenkatu. The trams made the town feel bigger and more modern. They ran for 64 years, until 1972 (stop 44), and in 2026 the city decided to build a new tramway (stop 50).

On the lighter side

Riding the tram: lines, fares and manners

What was it like to ride a tram in Turku? The first trams were pulled by horses. The electric ones that followed had open platforms, a driver who stood all day and a conductor who kept order.

The horse tram, 1890–1892

Rich founders. The horse tram was run by a company founded in 1889 by wealthy Turku businessmen, led by Count August Armfelt Well documented.
Castle to centre. It ran from the castle and the harbour along Linnankatu into the centre, and later over the Cathedral Bridge and along Hämeenkatu Well documented.
Five cars, 28 horses. The company had five cars from Stockholm, four closed and one open. It started with 18 horses and had 28 by the end of 1890 Well documented.
Fifteen penniä. A ride cost 15 penniä Well documented.
Off to Stockholm. After the horse tram stopped in 1892, its cars were sold to Stockholm in 1894 Well documented.

On board the electric tram

Seats and standing. Each of the 13 first cars had 20 seats inside and room for 18 people standing on the open platforms at the ends Well documented.
One track. The trams ran on a single track, with rails 1,000 millimetres apart, and took 600 volts from an overhead wire Well documented.
The fare. We have not found the fare of 1908. From 1922 to 1941 every ride cost one mark, wherever you went Well documented.
Manners. We have not found the Turku tram rules. In Helsinki the rules said drivers and conductors had to be reputable, reliable and sober men over 18, in a uniform approved by the authorities. The conductor collected fares and kept order inside the car. Helsinki’s first women conductors started in 1917 Well documented.

Tram life

An explosion. On 12 May 1920 a boiler exploded at the power plant. Seven people were killed, and the trams stood still for 87 days Well documented.
Yellow stays. In the 1930s passengers were asked about the colour of the trams. They voted to keep the “traditional yellow” by 724 votes to 208 for dark blue Well documented.
No conductor? No thanks. In 1950 Turku tried trams without conductors, but the trial ended the same year after staff protests Well documented.
The last ride. On 1 October 1972 the last tram finished its round carrying nearly 200 people, in a car meant for 50 (stop 44) Well documented.

Choose a tram and tap the numbers.

Two early Turku trams. Switch between the horse tram and the electric tram, and tap the numbers.Simplified drawings, not exact models of the Turku cars.

How do we know?

Tram companies kept records of cars, lines and passengers, and the city council minutes show the decisions. Everyday life on board is harder to find. We found no rules or ticket prices for Turku’s first electric trams, so we use Helsinki’s rules from the same years as a comparison.

Why it matters

The tram was the first public transport most people in Turku ever used. It brought the harbour, the station and the market closer together, and it gave work to drivers and conductors. The vote on the colour shows that people felt the trams were their own.

Sources and further reading

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