JYU Aalto Campus inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List as part of Aalto Works

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee inscribed Aalto Works, a series of architectural sites designed by Alvar, Aino, and Elissa Aalto, on the World Heritage List.

In Jyväskylä, the Aalto Works sites include the Aalto Campus, built around the main building of the University of Jyväskylä, as well as the Säynätsalo Town Hall and the Muuratsalo Experimental House.

The World Heritage List features cultural and natural heritage sites which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value.

The Aalto Works represents the Aaltos’ humanistic modernism and highlights the role of architecture in the development of the welfare society. At the same time, it reflects their significant contribution to the international evolution of modern architecture, says Ministry of Education and Culture in their press release.

You can discover the Aalto Works sites in Jyväskylä in a video released on the City of Jyväskylä’s YouTube channel.

Explore the campus on your own or through a guided tour

Jyväskylä’s own visitor centre will open at the Aalto2 Museum Centre in early October 2026. The permanent exhibition showcases Jyväskylä’s Aalto Works sites as well as other World Heritage sites in Central Finland.

Before the visitor centre opens anyone can explore the Aalto Campus either on their own or on a guided tour. Both the University of Jyväskylä and the Aalto2 Museum Centre organise tours of the campus.

• University of Jyväskylä website on guided tours and exploring the campus
• Aalto2 Museum Centres website on guided public tours

During the tours, you’ll have the chance to explore the unique ensemble of the University of Jyväskylä’s Seminaarinmäki Campus, where the red-brick seminary buildings of the 1880s meet the modern campus architecture designed by Alvar Aalto in the 1950s.

University of Jyväskylä has also been awarded the European Heritage Label

The University of Jyväskylä’s Seminaarinmäki campus and its commitment to equal education were previously awarded the European Heritage Label in 2022, making it the first institution in Finland to receive this distinction.

The European Heritage Label is awarded to sites located within the European Union that are significant in terms of European history, culture, and integration.