Hanaholmen is the bilateral cooperation centre of Sweden and Finland as well as a conference hotel and a restaurant.

The Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation, which oversees Hanaholmen, was founded already in 1960. When Finland was celebrating its 50th independence anniversary in 1967, Sweden forgave Finland a loan remaining from the war times totaling the amount of 100 million former Swedish kronor.

As a gift in return, the government of Finland decided to build a Swedish-Finnish cultural centre. The Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation was given its own house to promote cooperation, culture and business relations between Sweden and Finland.

Hanaholmen – the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre was inaugurated on 1 June 1975. The building was design by architect Veikko Malmio.

Art has been an important part of Hanaholmen since the design stage of the building. The art collection consisting of almost 300 artworks was put together with the help of the Swedish government’s monetary gift. Later, the art collection of Hanaholmen has expanded from the inside of the building out to the surrounding nature, into a Nordic Art Park. Prof. emerita Maaretta Jaukkuri has given her expertise as the curator of the art park, which features internationally renowned Nordic contemporary art and locates the official art gifts of the Nordic countries on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence.