Finland’s national open air museum was established, like those of other Scandinavian countries, in the period of Romantic nationalism before the First World War, at a time when Finland formed part of the [...] centre of Helsinki by the ethnographer Axel Olai Heikel (1851-1924), and illustrates the history of Finland in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries through a collection of more than 80 buildings from all parts [...] water-powered saw mill and a country store of 1871. The Kurssi farmstead shows how in some parts of Finland weaving was an important summer time occupation before the development of textile factories. There

The Maritime Centre Vellamo at Kotka is Finland’s national maritime museum, and is the responsibility of the National Board of Antiquities. It opened in 2008 and has a spacious boat hall and an auditorium [...] seating 200 people. Its main exhibition ‘North Star: Southern Cross’ tells the story of seafaring in Finland, explaining the nature of trading by sea, the achievements of explorers, and the history of passenger [...] safety and the marine environment. Since 2011 the centre holds an annual public event, the Gulf of Finland Village, when visiting research ships are open to the public.

second oldest city in Finland. It stands as one of the best-preserved and architecturally perfect ironworks areas in the country presenting the early stages of in­dustrialisation in Finland with architectural

limestone to the rest of Finland and to Sweden, Poland and the Baltic states. The Finnish lift (elevator) manufacture Kone uses the mines for testing and is in the process of installing Finland's fastest elevator

Kuhala rapids in 1847. It was soon followed by a weaving mill, a yarn dyeing plant, and in 1861 Finland's first and for 60 years the only fabric printing plant. Initially, pattern designs and printing [...] and the studio department started at the factory in 1951. From 1934, the Forssa mills were part of Finland's largest textile factory, Finlayson. Finlayson fabrics were designed and printed in Forssa. During [...] gallery, focuses on contemporary and textile art. Forssa Museum was the Museum of the Year 2014 in Finland and a nominee for the Emya prize in 2015. In 2021, the museum opens a new site Pattern Centre, dedicated

Kangasala is a town in western Finland, 20 km from Tampere, in an area of spectacular scenery commemorated in the poem ‘Summer Day in Kangasala’ written in 1853 by Zacharias Topelius. The Vehoniemen Automuseo [...] illustrate the history of motor transport generally and pay particular attention to motor cars built in Finland. The museum is the location for many events, particularly for gatherings of bikers. The shop prides

At Riihimaki, north of Helsinki, is Finland’s national museum of the glass industry. The origins of the museum were in 1961 but in 1980 it relocated to a former industrial building. This began in 1914 [...] designer Tapio Wirkkala. The focus of the museum is on the three centuries of the glass industry in Finland. The ground floor presents 4,000 years of glass production and explains methods of glassblowing,

people in the new industries of Finland from around 1900 until the 1960s. The forestry and papermaking company Tornator began a factory on the River Vuoksi in south-east Finland in 1895. It built 20 apartment

buildings in countryside of fields and woodland in south-west Finland, built between 2005 and 2019. It explores the history of agriculture in Finland across 3,000 years. The main permanent exhibition is about

Located in the industrial city of Vassa, this is Finland’s largest private car museum. Owned by Vaasa Vintage Car Society, it opened in 1981 and moved to its present building in 2010. It explores the history [...] rare Lancia Fulvia Zagato, the Volvo P1800S and the Triumph Spitfire. The exhibition also includes Finland’s first robot or driverless car, Marilyn 2.0. The floor above focuses on engine manufacturing in Vaasa

he returned to Scotland ten years later, the company he established became one of the largest in Finland employing more than 3,000 people in the late 19th century. Production on the original site, in a [...] exhibition describes how Tampere became the largest industrial city in the country, “the Manchester of Finland”. Impressive museum artefacts and photographs introduce visitors to the industrial enterprises and

history of industrial-scale peat production in Finland. The extraction and use of peat for energy production began in Aitoneva during World War II. Finland was lacking sources of energy due to the difficulties

same building with the Maritime Museum of Finland . After World War II Kymenlaakso was among the world’s leading paper producers. Nowadays South-Eastern Finland has one of the biggest industrial forestry

The Strömfors Ironworks in Ruotsinpyhtää near the south coast of Finland was founded in the 1690s and initially produced ingots from Swedish pig iron. Later the plant was equipped with a blast furnace [...] 250 years, the ironworks ceased operations in 1950. Today Strömfors Ironworks is considered one of Finland's best preserved ironworks villages. Among the surviving buildings is the brick building of a wa

mid-19th century to include table wares, and it remains the oldest glassworks still in production in Finland. The oldest remaining production and administration buildings dates from the 1850s. The workers’

in 1964, but the buildings have been carefully preserved, and are funded by UPM-Kymmene, one of Finland’s largest wood-processing companies. The village attached to the mill is used by the company as holiday

a museum in 1997. The most important exhibit is the original continuous board mill, the first in Finland, which was made by Heinrich Füllner in Lower Silesia and continued in operation until 1978. The machine

The State Cartridge Factory (Lapuan Patruunatehdas, or Paukku) was established in 1923 to support Finland’s security after it declared independence from Russia in 1917. The Lapua brand of cartridges was exported

This museum of cars for the region of South Karelia in south-east Finland was created by a voluntary association in 1991. It is housed in a former barn close to motorway 6. Since 2022, it has been joined

museum for the area in 1982. It portrays the last hundred years of life on farms in that part of Finland, showing above all the impact of mechanisation on agriculture. The museum has a collection of more