History and the future meet in the Finnish Wilderness and Nature Culture Museum

The Finnish Wilderness and Nature Culture Museum is a common meeting place for everyone, where themes from ancient hunting and gathering culture to versatile recreation in nature are brought out in an interesting and accessible way. The roots of the national museum, which presents wilderness culture themes, go back decades.

- The Fishing Museum Association and the Hunting Museum Association started the vision of a field museum complex decades ago. As a result of the project competition for the Wilderness and Nature Culture Museum, Imatra was chosen as the location of the museum. Suomen Erämuseosäätiö was founded in 2021, and the first employees started a year later, says the responsible producer Laura Cook.

The six-person team of the Finnish Heritage Museum Foundation is currently working on, among other things, a museum plan, which includes, for example, a business plan, a collection policy program and a museum concept. The team is aiming for the year 2028, when the Finnish Wilderness and Nature Culture Museum is planned to open.

- The establishment of a wildlife and nature culture museum requires multidisciplinary planning, such as defining the contents, securing the funding base, and remodeling the Imatra town hall. We work simultaneously with space planning, museum services and research. The project is big, but completely possible within the planned schedule, says Kokki.

The Wilderness and Nature Culture Museum, located in the premises of the current town hall of Imatra, aims to become a nationally responsible museum in its subject area, whose duties therefore include guiding and promoting the museum activities of the whole of Finland in its own special field and acting as a key expert in its subject area.

- We have mapped nationwide what kinds of hunting, fishing and camping collections can be found in our country. We want to present these collections in the new museum. With changing theme exhibitions, we are able to bring domestic and international current topics to the attention of the general public, explains Kokki.

The growing museum boom is attracting a large number of visitors

The museum concept of the Wilderness and Nature Culture Museum has been created from the beginning together with experts, key stakeholders and future users. The number of visitors to the future museum is envisioned to be 100 people per year. The basis for the estimates are the visitor numbers of other museums of similar size.

- Last year there were more museum visits in Finland than ever before. According to museum statistics, there are several museums in Finland with more than 100 visitors. The goal is tough, but completely possible, believes the project researcher Ilona Tuomi.

So the museum boom seems to be continuing to grow, which makes me very happy with a project of this size. 

- Currently, modern museum centers attract visitors both at home and abroad. And now, when an attractive, international and high-quality museum is being built, the number of visitors is thought of accordingly. The preparatory work aims to ensure that the new national museum succeeds and reaches a large number of visitors, says Kokki.

- When we do it big, I hope it will also be of great interest. The fact that the museum is being planned in this time is a great thing, both locally and nationally, adds Tuomi.

A source of inspiration for both experienced batch goers and beginners

The Wilderness and Nature Culture Museum is made for both experienced wilderness visitors and those who are not familiar with the subject area. According to Kok and Tuomi, the goal is that visitors have a low threshold to enter the museum and that they continue to be inspired to enjoy the wonderful nature of eastern Finland.

- The museum offers an opportunity to reflect on one's own relationship with nature. The museum can serve as a source of inspiration and offer its visitors a dialogue about the biggest questions of our time. We hope that the contents will awaken insights and activate museum users to engage with the topic even more broadly, says Kokki.

- The Wilderness and Nature Culture Museum not only shows what has once been, but also looks strongly into the future, notes Tuomi.

High-level exhibitions, events and other complementary services are planned for the museum. Service income also forms part of the museum's funding. The financing of national museums mainly consists of state contributions, and museums are also financed by municipalities, cities and other actors.

- With our own profits in mind, we are building a comprehensive and attractive service package for the museum, which consists of, for example, event and expert services, says Kokki.

The Finnish Desert Museum Foundation currently operates with project grants. The most recent project is the architectural plans of the Finnish Museum of Wilderness and Nature Culture, which is being implemented in cooperation with the city of Imatra.