Military Museum of Finland - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Military Museum of Finland (Sotamuseo in Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

) is the central museum of the Finnish Defence Forces

Finnish Defence Forces

The Finnish Defence Forces are responsible for the defence of Finland. It is a cadre army of 15,000, of which 8,900 are professional soldiers , extended with conscripts and reservists such that the standard readiness strength is 34,700 people in uniform...

and the national special museum of military history. It is located in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

and it is part of the Finnish National Defence University

Finnish National Defence University

The Finnish National Defence University is the Finnish Defence Forces' university located in Helsinki. The university trains officers for the Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard...

. Military Museums exhibitions in Kruununhaka and Suomenlinna had around 50 000 visitors in 2010. The most popular exhibition space is submarine Vesikko, visited by around 35 000 people annually.

History

Military Museum was founded November 25th 1929. The opening ceremony followed October 18 1930 at Liisankatu, Kruununhaka

Kruununhaka

Kruununhaka is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, the capital of Finland.Kruununhaka became the area next to the harbour and the center, when Helsinki was moved from the earlier location in the mid-1660s...

. Before the foundation Finnish military history was shown to public first in 1908 at Valtion historiallinen museo (The History Museum of the State) and in 1918-1919 at the National Museum. The former exhibition’s theme was The War of 1808-1809 and latter’s Finnish Civil War.

In January 1930 The Ministry of Defence ordered Military Museum to continue in Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna, until 1918 Viapori , or Sveaborg , is an inhabited sea fortress built on six islands , and which now forms part of the city of Helsinki, the capital of Finland.Suomenlinna is a UNESCO World Heritage site and popular with both tourists and locals, who...

Sea Fortress, where bastion Carpelan was reserved to museum’s use. Lieutenant Reijo Wilhelm Palmroth was elected as museum’s manager. The opening ceremony occurred June 11 1933 and after that museum was seen by around 9254 visitors annually. The exhibition consisted of different arms sections which included jaegers, engineers, arms and navy. There were also civil war collections to be seen.

Military Museum was closed however in autumn 1939, just before the break out of Winter War against Soviet Union. The items and collections were removed from bastion Carpelan during the war and storaged around Finland. The museum office had to also relocate from Helsinki because of the Soviet air bombings in 1944.

During the Winter War and Continuation War Military Museum organized a series of exhibitions at the Exhibition Hall. The first was Sotasaalisnäyttely (War Looting Exhibition) in February 1940 which was shortly followed by Sotamuistonäyttely (War Memories Exhibition) I and II in 1941. Military Museum organized also touring exhibitions around Finland between 1941 and 1943 and even had exhibitions in Sweden in 1942-43. There were several purposes for these kinds of war exhibitions. It was, for example, a means to gather funds for war invalids and their families, to show how it was to fight on Finnish side at the front and to lift up morale among citizens.

1944 was the year of the foundation of Sotamuistoyhdistys, later to be named Suomen sotahistoriallinen seura (The Association for Military History in Finland). The Association is and independent unit but it runs in close relationship with The Military Museum. Its goal is to cherish the memory of Finnish wars in various ways.

After the war Military Museum had to manage without exhibition halls for a short period of time. The situation changed when it received a hall at Maurinkatu, Kruununhaka. The Military Museum is now located in a garrison building designed by Evert Lagerspetz in 1883. Military Museum expanded more in the mid-1990s after setting up an exhibition also at Liisankatu. Nowadays there is a Winter War exhibition there.

Military Museum’s presence in Suomenlinna ceased to be at the brink of Winter War in 1939. The collections in bastion Carpelan were moved to the mainland and later Military Museum had to make way for the Armfelt Museum. However, there had been thoughts and conversation about founding a Coastal Artillery Museum and Naval Museum in Suomenlinna in 1946-1948. Finally, the Coastal Artillery Museum was opened in December 1948. The exhibition’s time range was from autonomy to the times of independence. The Museum was closed in 2007 due to reparations.

The Naval Museum opened its doors on 6 November 1948 although considerations about the exhibition had been made already in 1923. The exhibition showed Finnish naval defence during her independence era but in the end it didn’t last long. Museum was ordered to close in 1963 due to high moisture and didn’t manage to find new exhibition hall.

In the 1970s there emerged series of debates about opening Military Museum exhibition again in Suomenlinna in addition to submarine Vesikko, which was had been there as a museum since July 1973. After a number of failures Military Museum managed to gain the permit in August 1980. The Manege, which had been storage for Military Museum since 1974, was constructed to an exhibition hall during 1986-1989. The opening followed June 1 1989.
In summer 2011 Military Museum opened a Submarine Vesikko - special exhibition in addition to current Winter War-, The Continuation War- and Lapland War-exhibition.

The Military Museum has organized over 30 special exhibitions during 1962-1984. Among these are for example 40th and 90th anniversaries of the Finnish Defence Forces in 1958 and 2008 respectively and several Winter War exhibitions.

Tasks

The Military Museum collects, preserves, researches and displays artefacts and other heritage related to the Defence Forces of Finland, to military history and to the history of weaponry.

Collections

The collections of the Military Museum cover over 200 000 artefacts. Most artefacts are organized in research collections or stored.

Publications

Military Museum’s recent publications are Sotahistoriallinen Aikakauskirja 29/2010 (Journal of Military History) with Finnish Civil War theme and number 30/2010, published December 2010.

Permanent exhibition and the Winter War exhibition

The Military Museum's permanent exhibition displays Finnish military history since the beginning of the fifteenth century. The main focus is in the 19th century. Exhibition is however currently closed due to renovations.

The Winter War exhibition at Liisankatu 1, Kruununhaka depicts the war of 1939-40 against the Soviet Union through numerous items, for instance uniforms, light weapons, photographs and maps. The exhibition displays also the pre-war era and covers the whole war period until the Moscow peace treaty of 1940. In June 17 2011 was another exhibition opened in addition to The Winter War exhibition. The theme is Military artists’ work during the Continuation War (1941-44). The exhibition’s aim is to display drawings made at the frontline and discuss their importance and connection to reality at the battlefield.

Submarine Vesikko and Manege

The Military Museum has in the summer time two exhibitions open in Suomenlinna. Submarine Vesikko is a Finnish submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

built in 1933 that served in the second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

in the Gulf of Finland

Gulf of Finland

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...

. Vesikko is the only remaining submarine of the Finnish Fleet during the World War II. Other four U-boats were scrapped in 1953. During the Winter War and the Continuation war 1939-1944 Vesikko was in active service, conducting different patrols and safeguard missions in the Gulf of Finland and Åland archipelago. Vesikko managed to destroy one enemy transport ship as it sank Soviet Vyborg July 3 1941 near Suursaari. After the peace treaty with the Soviet Union Vesikko’s days in active service were over because The Peace Treaty of 1947 banned Finnish submarines. Vesikko was however saved for possible Finnish Navy’s educational purposes. But no use emerged for Vesikko and it was transferred to Katajanokka dockyard. The state planned to sell it in 1959 but thanks to strong lobbying, the submarine was once again saved and removed from Katajanokka to Suomenlinna in the early 1960s. After opening as a museum July 9 1973 it has become the most popular exhibition of Military Museum.

The Manege, open to public since June 1 1989 displays the history of Finnish coastal defence and heavy weapons from Finnish wars against Soviet Union in 1939-1944. There have also been arranged special exhibitions, for example in 1990 about Finnish submarines. The Manege’s collections include for example a German 88mm Flak 37 Anti-Aircraft gun and British Vickers- Armstrong 38 light tank. Both have been used by the Finnish Army during the wars. One specialty in the exhibition is a torpedo tube from a Finnish S2- torpedo boat, sunk in 1925. Submarine Vesikko-exhibition in the Manege is currently (Summer 2011) open to public.

Special exhibitions

In 2008 there was a new exhibition in Military Museum that depicts the Finnish military for the past ninety years. It was focused on the experience of a common soldier in the Finnish army.

Special Military Museums

At the moment there are 10 special military museums in Finland, which operate under Military Museum’s supervision. Due to limited resources and lack of exhibition halls historical military collections have been divided to special arms museums. Especially the growing amount of collections in different army units affected to the founding of special military museums. They are often financed by foundations and have been founded since 1945. Special military museums include The Engineer Museum, The Tank Museum, The Anti-Aircraft Museum, The National Signals Museum, The Artillery Museum, The Finnish Aviation Museum, The Infantry Museum, The Museum of Military Medicine, Mobilia and Forum Marinum.