Cinema Bio-Salo

In 1938, a business and residential building was completed at Helsingintie 11, in the corner of Helsingintie and Esterinkatu. The developer was Kosti Vuorio, and the building was designed by the master builder Aarne Hento. Cinema Bio-Salo started its operations in the Esterinkatu wing of the building in autumn 1938. The contemporary architecture of the time was particularly visible indoors: both the atrium and the theatre hall had a Functionalist feel in their simple graciousness and tubular furniture. In the lobby, the visitor’s attention was captured by the ceiling-high window on the back wall. It was adorned by a Kalevala-themed glass painting by the Salo-based artist Uuno Eskola: a National Romantic twist in the modern interior with international flair! Bio-Salo originally had 470 seats and, in the late 1930s, it was the largest cinema in the city. Compared to the Kiva cinema, which started its operations around the same time, Bio-Salo had 32 more seats for viewers. The cinema lobby has later been restored to its original form, and Bio-Salo is one of the oldest cinemas still in operation in Finland.