Museum A-Ö » Wars and wartime » Ostrobothnian Museum

The exhibition supply of the Ostrobothnian Museum is wide and versatile, all the way from culture historical and scientific exhibitions to art exhibitions.

The culture historical basic exhibition offers stories and items upon the Ostrobothnian peasant and merchant culture, as well as the history and folk art of Vaasa. As the municipal and regional art museum the Ostrobothnian Museum has received museum pieces from the entire region of the historical Ostrobothnia since the establishment of the museum in 1895. The way of life and sources of livelihood in coastal cities are reflected in the museum objects. The colourful and elaborate Ostrobothnian folk artefacts are represented by for example vehicles, furniture and handcraft tools as well as textiles. In addition to them on display in the museum is the Hallberg money collection, the Paavo Aikio money collection and a significant collection of silver.

The Hedman collection consists of art and antiquities. The nationally significant art collection is comprised of the works of masters from the golden age of Finnish art, as well as domestic impressionists and expressionists; among the artists can be mentioned for instance Ferdinand von Wright, Fanny Churberg, Albert Edelfelt, Pekka Halonen, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Tyko Sallinen and Helene Schjerfbeck. The collections also include foreign, mainly Dutch and Italian art from the 15th to the 17th century. The Hedman collection is supplemented by the collections of the Ostrobothnian Museum, the City of Vaasa’s and the Vaasa Art Association’s collections comprising current and regional art. The museum’s alternating exhibitions on contemporary art are arranged in the Vaasa City Art Gallery (Senaatinkatu 1).

Terranova – the Kvarken’s Nature Centre constitutes the museum’s permanent natural science exhibition and demonstrates how plants and animals take over the new land arisen from the sea. The basis of the exhibition is composed of the Ostrobothnia Australis association’s natural scientific collections of Finnish animals. The Kvarken’s natural phenomena, upthrust as well as the geology and fauna of the region are displayed for instance in the Ice Cave, which is a new, permanent part of the exhibition. In addition the centre offers information about conservation areas, environment tourism and associations.

The museum building, which was designed by Eino Forsman, was completed in 1929, and in 1967 a new modern exhibition wing was added, designed by Erik Kråkström.