About the museum
About the museum
Skären ‒ a Museum on the Net has been created as a result of close co-operation between five associations for local history, a cultural organization and a media production company. The aim of Skären is to shed light on life in the archipelago – the history and the culture – by creating an entirely new museum which exists solely on the internet. The surroundings, the artefacts and the archive material of the three contributing associations have been used by the creators of Skären to put together the narrative, the story of the fictitious Sjöberg family living in the Ostrobothnian archipelago in the beginning of the 20th century. Visitors to Skären are able to accompany the family members going about their everyday business – on the farm, at school as well as out on long and treacherous sealing expeditions. Do you wish to learn more about life in the Ostrobothnian archipelago? Please visit some or all of the participating museums or any other museum portraying life in the archipelago! Comprehensive information about the museums is found on the Museums in Ostrobothnia website.
Local history association for the Replot archipelago
Granösund Fishing Museum in the village of Södra Vallgrund is run by the local history association for the Replot archipelago. The museum portrays how life was during an era when the majority of the population gained its livelihood through fishing, seal hunting, farming, handicrafts and shipping. The open-air museum was opened in 1972 when the first buildings – a fisherman's cabin from the isle of Korsören and a boathouse from the village of Replot – were moved to the grounds. Over the years, more and more buildings have been moved to the museum, for instance two cottages, a fisherman's cabin from the village of Björköby and Svenna's cottage from the village of Södra Vallgrund, the latter cottage dating back to the 18th century. Seal hunting equipment is on display in the museum boathouse. There is also a carpenter's workshop, a cow-shed, a granary, a small shed by the waterside and a woodshed. One true rarity in the collection is a three-planked fishing boat from 1864. Visitors can also study a collection of net floats, different types of fishing nets, agricultural equipment and household tools.
Granösund Fishing Museum is normally open during the summer and by arrangement.
The local history association for the Replot archipelago was founded in Vaasa in 1958 by a group of urbanized archipelago-dwellers. The association was originally called the local history association for the Vaasa archipelago. In 1990, it got its current name.
Local history association of the village of Malax
The local history association of the village of Malax has some 255 members, operating on a voluntary basis, who maintain the museums and conduct studies in local history. The association has published dozens of local culture studies, and its modern archive facilities contain historical documents, photographs and artefacts. The association is in charge of two large museums:
Kvarken Boat Museum
The Kvarken Boat Museum is the largest museum for utility boats in Finland. Its collection consists of 116 different boats and canoes. Most of them come from the region of Ostrobothnia, but there is a Bolivian reed boat and an African canoe in the collection as well. In the 19 buildings on the museum grounds, there are more than 160 boat engines and close to 4,000 artefacts on display, all of which are somehow connected with boating, fishing, sealing and life in the archipelago. The Kvarken Boat Museum is located by the Malax river delta, in a nationally valuable cultural landscape.
Brinken Museum
There are 20 buildings at the Brinken open-air museum. Orregården, dating back to 1879, is a traditional Ostrobothnian farm house. It still has its original furnishings, and all the outbuildings stand in their original places. The historical garden of the Orre family has been restored to its former splendour. Tufvasgården (dating back to the early 19th century), the granary and all the sheds and workshops have, over the years, been moved to the grounds from different parts of Malax. The archive building and Ethel's House, which are used for exhibitions and storage, are newly built.
Bosund Boat, Fishing and Hunting Museum
Founded in 1995, the association behind the Bosund Boat, Fishing and Hunting Museum has managed to create an impressive museum with a vast collection of artefacts. The aim of the association is to preserve and display traditional wooden boats, boat engines, fishing equipment and hunting gear as well as other maritime artefacts illustrating life along the coast in former times.
On the museum grounds, there is a fisherman's cabin, a salt-house, a forge and a boathouse (from the lighthouse island of Tankar off Kokkola) and a number of sheds, one of which dates from the 18th century. The museum has a collection of some 60 boats. Most of the boats are on display in the large, two-storey exhibition hall. The museum is built at a location rich in cultural history – for more than 500 years, it has been the starting point for innumerable fishing expeditions. Close to the museum, there is an old shipyard as well as modern fish processing facilities.
The Bosund Boat, Fishing and Hunting Museum is run on a voluntary basis. Every summer, the museum association, with some 100 members, organizes events at the museum. The museum is open in the summer and by arrangement.
Local History Association of Kaskinen
The Local History Association of Kaskinen owns and manages a large, 14-room building at Raatihuoneenkatu in the town of Kaskinen. Built in the 1850’s, the Renström house has been restored, preserving the typical setting of a bourgeois family.
The association has some 120 supporting members, of which around 30 are actively involved in preserving, restoring and maintaining the museum building and the association’s considerable collections. The activities are financed through events and happenings. The association has a growing photo archive consisting of close to 10,000 photographs. The association has also published three books.
Maritime Museum of Kristinestad
The Maritime Museum of Kristinestad is run by the local association for maritime history (Kristinestads sjöhistoriska förening r.f.). The association was founded with the sole objective of collecting and cataloguing artefacts of potential interest for the local maritime museum, which had been founded in 1973 by a number of interested parties from the villages of Sideby, Härkmeri and Lappfjärd as well as from the town of Kristinestad.
The Maritime Museum, officially founded in 1983, is located by the town square in Kristinestad, in the attic of a house commissioned by the shipowner Simon Anders Wendelin in 1837. The museum collection consists of artefacts connected to the maritime history of the town, for instance paintings, miniature ship models, tools, equipment, souvenirs, documents and photographs. A seven-metre model of the barque Alma, which was launched in Kristinestad in 1875, is currently on display at the town’s healthcare centre. The model was built by members of the association.
Larger artefacts, such as boats and engines, as well as larger ship models and miniature models of shipyards, pine-tar courts and steamship quays, are displayed in a separate exhibition hall, called the Merimakasiini.
The museums are open during the summer.