The Military Museum collects and preserves items and photographs related to Finland's military and weapon history, as well as various phases of the Defense Forces.

Explore the colorful phases of Finland's war history through our exhibitions. The exhibitions take you from the Finnish Civil War of 1918 to the battles of World War II and into the 21st century.

The Military Museum has three exhibition locations in Suomenlinna: the Military Museum Manege, the Artillery Museum Manege, and the submarine Vesikko.

The Artillery Manege is the War Museum's second exhibition building in Suomenlinna. The Artillery Manege exhibition presents Finnish front-line art from recent wars. The Artillery Manege also houses an exhibition presenting the life of a soldier during both war and peace. A changing special exhibition is Between Two Homes, which presents the story of Finnish war children during World War II.

Exhibitions

Changed by War

The exhibition presents works by the artists of the Information Company (TK Company) from the Continuation War period.

The Continuation War began in the summer of 1941 and ended in the autumn of 1944. As the front lines advanced deep into the lost Karelia, the art of the TK artists captured the land and people shaped by the battles. The works provide glimpses of the everyday life and moments that were a reality for Finns during the war. People's own and their loved ones' lives took directions that could not have been foreseen a couple of years earlier.

The War Museum's collections include hundreds of TK drawings, handicrafts, and artworks depicting the wartime. The selection on display in the exhibition is a fraction of this unique collection, which is not found in any other Finnish museum.

Life of a Soldier Here and Elsewhere

The interactive Life of a Soldier exhibition presents topics and themes related to the everyday life of soldiers from their own experiences. Visitors can, among other things, explore what it is like to be a soldier during both peace and war. Visitors can try out aspects of a soldier's life and consider whether they could meet the mental and physical demands placed on soldiers.

Between two homes

During the Finnish wars, approximately 75,000 children were sent to flee the war to Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The majority of them were sent to Sweden. Most of the children were happy in their new home, but there was also abuse. The children who returned to Finland after the wars adapted over time, but many were still troubled by the feeling of being rootless and abandoned for the rest of their lives.

The miniature exhibition at the War Museum offers the opportunity to experience the feelings of war children at the moment of departure, life in a foreign country and their return to Finland.

Finland at War

The exhibition section located in the War Museum Manege tells about Finland's four wars during the independence period: the Civil War of 1918, the Winter War of 1939–1940, the Continuation War of 1941–1944, and the Lapland War of 1944–1945.

One ticket covers all three War Museum exhibition locations: the War Museum Manege, the Artillery Museum Manege, and the submarine Vesikko (open only in summer). Free entry for children under 18 yo. and customers with valid Finnish Museokortti and Helsinki Card.

Homepage: https://sotamuseo.fi/en/frontpage