Whitewater Shoe & Leather Museum

The Whitewater Museum at Korkeakiski, north-east of Tampere, is situated in the Juupajoki Korkeakiski leather factory, one of the enterprises set up in response to the opening of the Tampere-Haapamäki railway in the 1890s by Edward Wallenius. He established a tannery in 1894 and the factory for the manufacture of shoes in 1897. They stand near a spectacular waterfall which provided hydro-electric power for the machinery. The ownership of the factory changed several times during the twentieth century, and new owners in 1984 decided to abandon the making of shoes in favour of the manufacture of leather garments. The museum, which is managed by the Pirkanmaa Provincial Museum, opened in 1985 in a workshop formerly used for making heels. The collection includes more than a thousand pairs of shoes, several of which belonged to presidents of Finland. There are also machines formerly used in shoe manufacture, and displays showing the production of lasts and components of shoes.

Whitewater Shoe & Leather Museum
Koskenjalan Kenkä-Ja Nahkamuseo
Koskitie 43
35500 Korkeakiski
Finland
+358 (0) 50 - 4015792
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