Top 10 maritime museums in Finland

Several museums on the coast of Finland showcase maritime history, maritime archaeology and shipbuilding. These museums, located in idyllic coastal towns, exhibit the history of their region through objects, stories and ships. The museums also conduct research and record maritime history.

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1.

Maritime Museum

The Maritime Museum of Finland

The Maritime Museum of Finland, Maritime Centre Vellamo, Kotka Located in Vellamo, a multipurpose maritime centre, the Maritime Museum of Finland offers fascinating and extensive exhibits on the history of seafaring in Finland. In addition to the permanent exhibition, Northern Star, Southern Cross, the museum features temporary exhibitions and museum ships. The museum also introduces its guest to maritime archaeology operations and captivating undersea discoveries.

See the current exhibitions and news on the museum’s website!

2.

Maritime Centre

Forum Marinum, Turku

The Forum Marinum Maritime Centre is a focal point of maritime history and activities, comprising a national special maritime museum, and the Finnish Navy Museum. Forum Marinum provides several maritime-themed exhibitions on two floors. The main exhibition of Forum Marinum, Work at Sea, is located in the Kruunumakasiini (Crown Granary) building, which was completed in 1896. During the summer, visitors can also see museum vessels from different time periods. 

See the current exhibitions and news on the museum’s website

3.

Maritime Museum

Rauma Maritime Museum

The Rauma Maritime Museum showcases the town’s long and lively history in seafaring with its permanent exhibition and temporary exhibitions. The museum exhibits Rauma’s history of shipbuilding as well as training activities for sailors and their lives at the sea and on shore. The museum is appropriately located in an old maritime academy built in 1900.

Find out more at the museum’s website!

4.

Maritime Museum

Maritime museum of Vaasa

The Maritime museum of Vaasa exhibits local seafaring traditions from shipbuilding in the 1800s to modern luxury cruisers. Interesting objects, scale models of old ships, local shipwreck discoveries and old photographs offer visitors the chance to peek into the lives of sailors in the past. The museum’s collection is complete with a diving suit from the early 1900s that weighs around 100 kilogrammes!

Read more on the Maritime museum of Vaasa!

5.

Maritime Museum

Maritime Museum of Kristinestad

The seafaring traditions in Kristinestad reach all the way back to the 1600s. The museum’s collection includes objects, maritime equipment, photographs and stories related to seafaring and shipbuilding activities in the town. Visitors get to see an old diving suit and exotic objects from far-away lands that found their way into Finland via foreign maritime trade. The museum also safekeeps objects found in the waters of the area that recount tragic stories of shipwrecks. The museum has a ship exhibit as well located right outside the city centre, which includes scale models and motor and sailboats.

Read more on the Maritime museum of Kristinestad!

6.

Maritime Museum

Loviisa Maritime Museum

The Loviisa Maritime Museum exhibits the long and versatile history of seafaring in this old port town. Loviisa has been a port town since it was founded in 1745. The town had very active shipbuilding and maritime shipping industries, and lively domestic and foreign maritime trade.

http://www.merenkulkumuseo.fi

7.

Boat Museum

Kvarken Boat Museum, Maalahti

The Kvarken Boat Museum is the largest boat museum in Finland, and it exhibits Ostrobothnian utility boats from the years 1820-1993. The museum’s collection includes a large variety of boats from old wooden boats to modern aluminium and fiberglass boats. The exhibition also includes dugouts carved from a single log, originating from different parts of Ostrobothnia. The oldest of the dugouts was dated through dendrochronology to the year 1774. In addition to the boats and fishing equipment on exhibit, the museum provides visitors information on sealing, log driving and life in the Finnish archipelago. The museum’s collection also includes plenty of objects and old photographs and drawings of boats.

More information can be found on the museum’s website.

8.

Maritime Museum

Kilen maritime museum, Siipyy

The Kilen maritime museum is a small maritime and shipbuilding museum operating within the Kilen Local Museum outdoor museum. The outdoor museum is located in an old fishing village, and the buildings in the area exhibit the fishing and farming culture of the coastal villages in Finland.

Find out more! (in finnish or swedish)

9.

Maritime Museum

Packhouse museum, Raahe

The Packhouse museum is located in an old customs building, built in 1848, that has also served as a Seaman House. The body of the museum’s collection consists of donations made in the 19th century: natural objects and utility articles from distant countries as well as exotic souvenirs. Raahe’s prosperity in the Age of Sail can be seen in the museum’s collection, which tells the tale of Raahe as a vibrant town of seafarers and shipwrights. The most known and captivating item of the museum’s collection is the oldest diving suit in the world, Wanha herra or “old gentleman”, which is currently located in the nearby Crown Granary museum.

Find out more about the Packhouse museum!

10.

Maritime Museum

Åland Maritime Museum

The Åland Maritime Museum features versatile exhibits that relay the fascinating maritime history of Åland Islands as the midway stop on the shipping route from Finland to Sweden. The museum’s collection holds an impressive number of small-scale models of ships and sailboats. The museum also has a lot to offer for families. Visitors have a chance to board the four-masted tall ship Pommern that was built in 1903 and now serves as a museum vessel at the waterfront right outside the museum.

Find out more about the Åland Maritime Museum on the museum’s website.