Where we operate

The National Museum of Finland is in charge of visitor programmes and services in ten museums and castles all over Finland. The museum’s sites are historically significant buildings. Most of the locations are owned by Senate Properties, which manages them in cooperation with the Finnish Heritage Agency.

The oldest historical museum sites include Häme Castle in Hämeenlinna, Olavinlinna Castle in Savonlinna and Louhisaari Manor in Askainen. The most recent building is Maritime Centre Vellamo in Kotka, which was built in the 2000s. It has been the location of the Maritime Museum of Finland since 2008.

The main museum building of the National Museum of Finland on Mannerheimintie was completed in 1910 and opened to the public in 1916. The National Romantic style building designed by the architecture firm Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen represented cutting-edge European museum architecture of the time, while symbolising the central role of the museum as the builder of Finnish identity. An annex to the National Museum of Finland is being designed to expand the operation of the museum significantly.

There are more than 80 rustic buildings from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries on the lush island of the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum in Helsinki. The collection of unique house museums includes Tamminiemi, which was the home of President Urho Kekkonen; the studio home Hvitträsk of the architecture firm Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen; as well as the Langinkoski fishing lodge constructed for Russian emperors. The Prison located right next to Häme Castle was established as a penitentiary in 1871, and it is currently the only prison museum in Finland.

The collections of the National Museum of Finland are stored, conserved and researched at the Collections and Conservation Centre of the Finnish Heritage Agency in Vantaa. Additionally, some of the collections are stored in Orimattila until 2025. You can browse museum collections in the national digital library Finna.