Kosmorama named after a cinema in 1910s.

Kosmorama

Nylandsgatan 2 
Year of construction: 1900-1902 

Kosmorama is a rectangular, plastered brick building on a stone foundation with two floors. The few decorative elements are highlighted in their white colour on the yellow façade. The building was constructed with the vision of transforming the entire block into a shopping centre, and it was named after a cinema in the 1910s. After extensive renovations and adaptations for modern needs, Kosmorama is now used by Research Services at the Åbo Akademi University.

Kosmorama was originally part of a marketplace complex. Image: Atelier Borenius, in the 1910s. Source: Åbo Akademi University Library.

In the 1800s, the plot was owned by weighmaster Johan Christian Trapp, who built a wooden house that burnt down in 1891. The plot was then acquired by confectioner Johan Reinhold Lehtinen, who planned to turn the entire block into a shopping centre. Lehtinen constructed the corner building between 1900 and 1902 according to Helge Rancken’s design. At that time, the building had shops on the ground floor, apartments on the second floor, and a photo studio in the attic.

When Lehtinen’s shopping centre project failed, industrialist Louis Schnitt bought the entire block. The building was named after the “Kosmorama Cinema” located on the ground floor during Schnitt’s ownership.

Acquisition by the Åbo Akademi University Foundation

When the Åbo Akademi University Foundation purchased the property in 1917, there were retail spaces on the first floor and a public kitchen in the basement. The Departments of Philosophy, History of Literature, History, Jurisprudence, and Political Science shared the second floor during Åbo Akademi University’s first years of operation from 1919 to 1921. In 1920, the building was renovated for the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, and laboratories were set up on both floors. Auditoriums and teachers’ rooms were on the ground floor.

Kosmorama, at the corner of the streets Tavastgatan (fi. Hämeenkatu) and Nylandsgatan (fi. Uudenmaankatu). Image: Helena Nylund, 2024.

Renovations and Current Use 

The building underwent extensive renovations in 1994 and was then officially named Kosmorama. The property was used by the Caretaking Department (today Technical Services) and the archive until 1998. Before the construction of the building Gripen, it was necessary to reinforce Kosmorama’s foundation, which was done in connection with extensive renovations from 1997 to 2000.

The Center for Lifelong Learning (CLL) had staff and teaching spaces in Kosmorama until 2004, when they moved to Arken. The Communications Unit then moved to Kosmorama’s second floor but relocated to Gripen in 2015 during a renovation and reconstruction project. Today, Kosmorama is used by Research Services at the Åbo Akademi University.

Source: Väggarna talar (2017) by Lars Berggren and Annette Landen.