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