Last updated: 24.02.2025
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The permanent exhibition
Next, let’s take the stairs back up and visit the museum’s permanent exhibition. The permanent exhibition presents the maritime history of Finland mainly from the perspectives of commercial and naval crafts.
The Baltic has always been the main route for Finland’s contacts with the surrounding world. The vikings (800-1100 AD) passed though Finland on their way east. In the middle ages, the Hansa and the Danes were some of the rulers of the Baltic seas and there is ample evidence for contacts across the Baltic (see next section on wrecks). From the 16 century, Finland became a part of Sweden and contributed to the establishment of Sweden as a naval and military power in the Baltic.
It might be surprising, but the Baltic is a veritable treasure throve for marine archeologists. The brackish water and the silt bottoms of the Baltic Sea have preserved ships in very good condition and have provided information on all aspects of marine life: how boats were built, how they were sailed and what products were transported across the Baltic. The most spectacular wreck of the Baltic is of course the Vasa but the Finnish waters also hide many interesting and old wrecks. One example of such a wreck is the “Borstö I“. Some of the findings from the wreck can be seen in the panorama below.
Finland’s history as part of Sweden ended in 1809 when Sweden lost a war against Russia and had to cede Finland to Russia. During the 19th century Finland’s national identity grew stronger and in 1917 Finland became independent. Boating played a small part in establishing the Finnish national identity as the current Finnish flag (blue cross on white bottom) as first introduced as the flag of the NJK yacht club in 1861. The flag design became the “national” flag of Finnish yachts during the 19th century and would later influence the choice of our national flag.
One of the challenges of relying on waterways for transport has always been the Finnish winter: the waterways freeze over. Because of this, Finland has established itself as one of the leading nation in the world building and operating icebreakers. Today, even during the most severe winters, the Finnish icebreaker fleet ensures around-the-year access for commercial shipping to the Finnish ports.
Did you know that Helsinki is one of the busiest ports in the world for passenger traffic? Some 10 million (!) passangers pass through the port annually, most travelling on the Helsinki-Tallinn route. Helsinki is also connected to Stockholm which is another very popular route. The ferries going to and from Helsinki are more like cruise ships than ferries and people not only use them for transport but also for short vacations.
One of the most iconic passenger/cruise ferries to ever sail to/from Helsinki was Finnjet. Finnjet did her maiden voyage in 1977 and she is still the fastest conventional passenger/cruise ferry ever built! Powered by gasturbines and reaching a top speed of 30 knots, she did the trip across the Baltic sea from Helsinki to Travemünde in Germany in just 22 hours. With a turn-around time in port of 2 hours, she did a daily run of the Baltic, always leaving the ports at the same time. Also my first trip abroad by myself was on Finnjet, going to a sailing camp in Germany. In the panorama you can see an authentic Finnjet cabin as it has been left by the passengers.
Museum ships
In addition to the indoor exhibitions, the museum also has a fleet of ships moored outside the museum. The most impressive ships are the lighthouse ship Kemi and the icebreaker Tarmo. The ships are only open in the summer.
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