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In 1978 a competition was arranged for the design of a new main library. The jury unanimously chose the design by Raili and Reima Pietilä. The architects said they had been influenced by various elements, such as Celtic ornaments, sheep horns and glacial spin formations. The basic idea was a space coiling spirally like the shell of a snail. The form of a bird appeared in the design process. Increasingly, the building began to resemble a large game bird, the capercaillie, known in Finnish as metso – now the building's nickname. Seen from above, the building looks like a bird carrying a shield. Houses the Tampere Mineral Museum.
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Tampereen kivimuseo
Not quite as boring as you'd think, the museum has plenty of gemstones cut and raw, including a 600-kg chunk of Brazilian amethyst, meteorites and even a couple of dinosaur eggs.
Hiekan taidemuseo
Home museum of art collector Kustaa Hiekka.
Aleksanterin kirkko
This is a neo-gothic red brick building. Its interior is simple coloured wooden craftswork. It is surrounded by a small park containing a few old grave stones.
Lenin Museum
Formerly the Lenin Museum, this is a small and quirky museum that has expanded its scope from covering one of the founding fathers of Soviet communism, who met Stalin for the first time in this building still owned by the Workers Association of Tampere, to the broader story of Finland-Russia relations. Contains a lot of texts, maps and pictures as well as some artefacts. The museum shop is also worth visiting.
Tampereen taidemuseo
Changing exhibitions of Finnish and foreign art.
Amurin työläismuseokortteli
Amuri is a block of 19th-century wooden houses turned into an open-air museum that vividly displays how the working-class used to live between 1880s and 1970s. The houses form an almost closed inner court, and there is a nice old-fashioned cafe with seatings both indoors and in the courtyard. Highly recommended for history buffs, but interesting to others as well.