Things to Do in Europe

Sederholm House (or Sederholmin Talo) dates from 1757 and was the house of Helsinki's then-richest merchant, Johan Sederholm. A two-story stone building with a mustard-colored roof, it was the most luxurious house in the city. Business was done on the ground floor, with storage cellars below, and the family lived in the apartments on the floor above. Apart from the windows, which were enlarged in 1866, the house is as it was when built. 

These days Sederholm House is part of the Helsinki City Museum which traces the history of the city. The historic Sederholm House is used for special exhibitions. The museum has a number of other sites also including the main location at Sofiankatu 4, the Tram Museum, the Power Station Museum, the School Museum, Hakasalmi Villa, the Burgher's House and the Worker Housing Museum. Each hosts exhibitions and together they form an excellent picture of life in Helsinki over the centuries.

Constructed in honor of its namesake, the much-celebrated Valencian Impressionist artist Joaquin Sorolla, the Sorolla Museum is a fascinating tribute to the artist's life and works, displaying personal artifacts, awards, written memoirs and, of course, many of his most beloved artworks. Housed in the 20th-century mansion on Paseo del General Martínez Campos where the artist lived and worked from 1912 until his untimely death in 1923, the Sorolla house was bequeathed to the public by his widow and reopened as a museum several years later.

The museum serves not only as a gallery of his finest works, but a memorial to the artist himself "“ many rooms have been preserved as they were left, with the original decor and personal effects still in place. Sorolla's pipes and paintbrushes can still be seen scattered around the studio, along with over 300 canvasses and thousands of rough drawings. Even the building, along with its series of splendid landscaped gardens, is a masterwork of its former owner, providing an even greater insight into his artistic vision and creative evolution. The house itself, designed by architect Enrique María de Repulles y Vargas in a classic Andalusian style, was dreamed up by Sorolla himself, who purchased the plot of land with the aim of creating the perfect home and studio. The exquisite mansion offers an ideal backdrop to his beautifully lit portraits and landscape paintings, making it one of Madrid's most serene art museums.

Sisi, or Empress Elizabeth, was the wife of Franz Josef 1 of Austria who she married when she was only 16. She was very beautiful and strictly maintained her 20 inch (50 cm) waistline! The headstrong girl from Munich gained a reputation for rejecting court etiquette and being a bit of free-spirit. But after the death of her daughter Sophie, Sisi became ill herself and began often going south for the warmth, separate from her husband, to write poetry and meet with a string of lovers. When her beloved son Crown-Prince Rudolf died tragically in a murder-suicide pact with his lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera, Sisi was inconsolable. In 1898, aged 60, in Geneva, she herself died, assassinated by a young anarchist, Luigi Lucheni. 

Her life was like a soap opera and these days she is a cult figure. The Sisi Museum houses hundreds of her personal belongings as well as a history of her fascinating life.