A campus with history that keeps on making history
Maria 01 is located on an old hospital campus that dates back to the 1800s. “Marian Sairaala” (Maria’s hospital) was the first and oldest hospital in Helsinki. The name “Maria’s Hospital” was given in 1886 to honor Maria Feodorovna, Aleksander’s wife, the III of Russia, who dedicated it to her and gifted it to celebrate the couple’s silver wedding.
In 1943 the hospital served as a war hospital, and in 1959 it was turned into a public hospital, up until 2014, when it closed down the hospital-operations permanently. Today, the hospital’s historical site is under protection, and thus the outer facade of the main building remains intact. The newest pavilion was rebuilt in the ’90s after a fire. 2016 became a history-changing year for the hospital.


A community driven initiative
Maria 01 is a community-driven initiative funded in 2016 and co-owned by the City of Helsinki (34%), Startup Foundation (33%), and Helsinki Enterprise Agency (33%).
Maria 01 operates as a not-for-profit organization that provides a grounded working model looking after its members’ interests. Today, Maria 01 has positioned itself as one of the leading startup operators in the Nordic region.