Arkadia Theatre

The Arkadia Theatre was opened at the Theatre Museum’s first permanent exhibition in 1999. The small-scale replica of the theatre house designed by C.L. Engel in 1820, soon proved to be one of the favourites of our visitors.

The height and width of the stage opening is half the size of the original, and the decorations of the arches and the stage sets follow closely Engel’s sketches. The atmosphere of the theatre of the 1800s lingers also in the Dressing room, accessed from the back corner of the stage.

Even the name, Arkadia Theatre, echoes the past. In the late 1800s, the first professional Finnish-speaking theatre, the Finnish Theatre, performed in a theatre of the same name. The Finnish Theatre can be seen in the diorama on the wall opposite to the stage, presenting the oldest material of the exhibition, costumes, and exhibits from the 1800s.

In the Dressing room you can change roles and dress up as a hero of your dreams, a primadonna, or a tiger to pick a few examples. When the curtain rises, the place in the spotlight is yours to take!