2000 Kemi yksin

Lightship Kemi

Open today 10—17
16.5.2023 10:00 — 3.9.2023 17:00

The bright red lightship Kemi offers a leisurely look at a slower way of life in the 1960s. The summery Kemi is an excellent companion to the legendary winter vessel, the icebreaker Tarmo, on the museum ship pier of the Maritime Museum of Finland.

The Kemi is the last lightship to have operated in Finland. The ship, which was completed in Pori in 1901, secured navigation over the course of decades in various shoals on the Finnish coast. The most recent place the ship was stationed in was Kemi, where its beacon blinked until 1974.

The lightship was a unique workplace, in which the crew worked and lived nearly uninterrupted from the spring until the late autumn, rocking on the waves. The restored Kemi is moored at Maritime Centre Vellamo’s museum ship pier in Kotka as part of the Maritime Museum of Finland’s exhibitions. The ship is open during the summer.

The steam-powered icebreaker Tarmo (1907) is also open in the summer, transporting visitors to the atmosphere of crashing ice and even wartime. The outdoor exhibition Kuuri completes the offering by introducing, for example, the Kultaranta II (1929), which served Finnish Presidents from Relander to Kekkonen.

Learn more about the story of Kemi (coming).

You can purchase a joint ticket for the Kemi and the Tarmo for €8. Read more about opening times and admission fees.

More information and background on lightship Kemi (coming).

People on the lightship

These stories are related to the visitor experience on the lightship Kemi. Part of the collection of the Maritime Museum of Finland, Kemi is open to the public in the summer time in the museum ship pier of Maritime Centre Vellamo in Kantasatama in Kotka.

When walking the lightship Kemi, visitors can hear the thoughts or discussions of crew members in the different areas of the ship in Finnish. You can read the same stories in different languages.

The stories are fictional, but they are based on genuine everyday life aboard the ship. In its last years of operation, lightship Kemi had a staff of 12. The ship also served as a sea pilots' base.