Ainola

Ainola is the villa of the composer Jean Sibelius and his wife Aino, at Ainolankatu in Järvenpää, Uusimaa, Finland, on a wooded slope above Lake Tuusula. The architect Lars Sonck designed the log-and-plaster house in a National Romantic style, and the family moved in during 1904, leaving the capital for quiet and nature. The house was named after Aino and became a home for their five daughters. Sibelius composed many of his major works here, including later symphonies and the tone poem Tapiola, before a long period of near-silence in his final decades. He died at Ainola in 1957, and Aino lived there until her death in 1969, after which the family sold the property to the state. The Sibelius family and the Finnish state opened it as a museum in 1974, and it is now run by the Sibelius Museum foundation and partners. The interiors are preserved largely as they were during Sibelius's life, with his study, the dining room, the piano, books, paintings, and furniture. The garden, with fruit trees, a sauna, and the grave of the composer and his wife, is part of the visit. Järvenpää was also the centre of an artist colony at Lake Tuusula, which included painters, writers, and musicians who shaped Finnish culture around the turn of the twentieth century. Visitors are usually guided or can walk through the rooms, with exhibits on Sibelius's life. A visit typically takes 45 to 90 minutes. Ainola is about 40 kilometres north of Helsinki and is reached by train to Järvenpää and a walk or taxi, or by car. The museum is open in the summer season only.