Verner Rasmus Museum

The oldest item in the museum is the birch bark carton from the year 1541, and there is also a trunk dating back to the 17th century in the museum.

The Verner Rasmus Museum is an exceptional museum with a unique collection of porcelain artefacts. The museum is a versatile visiting destination with its fascinating combination of peasant furniture, agriculture equipment and books.

Verner Rasmus was a peasant, who lived in Vörå during the years 1901-1988. He dwelled on his homestead Arvidsgården together with his three siblings, Viktor, Arvid and Aina. The main building of Arvidsgården dates back to 1913. Verner lived in Vörå all his life except for the few years (1927-1931) he spent in Canada. He made his living by farming, but he was also an amateur musician, tinkerer, painter and collector.

When he started to gather his museum collection in the 1930s he went around in auctions, obtained old items by barter or cleared away “junk” from people’s attics. He was already as a child interested in collecting things, which he saw Vörå people throw away. The collecting began with coffee cups and diverse porcelain items. Gradually his home became a museum, where Verner guided visitors and displayed objects which he stored in vitrines he had made himself.

The porcelain collection increased during the years to the extent, that it nowadays fills an entire room from ceiling to floor. There are for instance dishes and clay bowls made by local potters, glass from the Grönvik and Berga glassworks as well as a fiddle made by Verner himself. Verner Rasmus also constructed a piano, which he donated to the Sibelius Museum in Turku.

There is an impressive collection of various chairs in the main room, and the walls of the cabin are embellished with hand-painted mansion style wallpapers. Rasmus has carefully documented the owner and origin of each artefact. Some of the items here used to belong to art collector and founder of the Ostrobothnian Museum Karl Hedman.

Verner Rasmus also had some artistic tendencies, and he made many sketches of his homestead; there are drawings of the estate before the fire in the beginning of the 20th century, when a part of the Rasmusbacken burned down.

The museum is usually open only upon request, but during the Vörå Days in the beginning of July it is open for the audience for an entire day.