Part of the customer services of the Finnish Heritage Agency and the National Museum of Finland will close in 2023 - original material will not be available for loan in 2024 and 2025

The researcher service for archaeological and picture collections will end on 30 June 2023. The original materials in the picture collections and archaeological collections will not be available for loan in 2024 and 2025. Loan requests will be accepted until 30 June 2023.

The information service on the collections will continue to the extent possible during the move.

Breaks in the services of the National Museum of Finland 2023–2024

The services for the research and display of the National Museum of Finland’s collections will be interrupted on 1 January 2023. Previously agreed visits and ongoing research projects will be processed as agreed. For more information about research opportunities at the National Museum, see www.kansallismuseo.fi/fi/kokoelmat/tutkimuspalvelut

The materials of the National Museum of Finland’s collections will not be lent to exhibitions from 1 July 2023 to 31 December 2024. Requests for the loan of artefacts for the first half of 2023 must be sent to the National Museum of Finland no later than 6 months before the opening of the exhibition, at the latest by the end of 2022. For more information about the loan of artefacts at the National Museum, see www.kansallismuseo.fi/fi/kokoelmat/tutkimuspalvelut

Some services will continue as normal

The customer services of the Finnish Heritage Agency’s archives and the library will continue at the agency's Sturenkatu premises until further notice.

The customer services of the Press Photo Archive JOKA and the picture collection of the Maritime Museum of Finland will continue as normal at the Collections and Conservation Centre.

The Press Photo Archive collections contain press photos from the early 1900s to the 2000s. The collections include the Kaleva, Uusi Suomi - Iltalehti, Maaseudun tulevaisuus and Hufvudstadsbladet newspapers, Otavamedia magazines, the Pressfoto photo agency and numerous collections of individual photographers.

The picture collection of the Maritime Museum of Finland contains approximately 30,000 pictures of sailboats, engine vessels and working and leisure time on ships.

Customers also have access to 200,000 digital images contained in the picture collections and 27,000 digital images of artefacts in the archaeological collections, available through the Finnish Heritage Agency's Finna service. The images have been published under Creative Commons licenses.

Customer service will move to better facilities

The Finnish Heritage Agency will discontinue the use of the Sturenkatu premises by the end of 2025. The four million pictures in the Finnish Heritage Agency's picture collections, two million artefacts in its archaeological collections and five shelf-kilometres of archive material will be moved from Sturenkatu in Helsinki to the Finnish Heritage Agency’s Collections and Conservation Centre in Hakkila, Vantaa.

During this project, the Finnish Heritage Agency’s collections and archive materials will be digitalised to improve their accessibility.

The aim is to open the customer service for the Finnish Heritage Agency’s picture collections, archaeology collections and archives in early 2026 in the new customer service facilities at the Agency’s Collections and Conservation Centre.

The National Museum of Finland’s collection services will also be opened at the new customer service facilities in the Collections and Conservation Centre. The museum’s research services and artefact loaning services are set to be launched as early as in 2025.

Further information:

More information about the move of the collections (in Finnish)

• Finnish Heritage Agency’s archaeological collections, library and archive: Jutta Kuitunen, Chief Intendant, jutta.kuitunen@museovirasto.fi, tel. +358 (0)295 33 6081
• Picture Collections of the Finnish Heritage Agency, Ismo Malinen, Chief Intendant ismo.malinen@museovirasto.fi, tel. +358 (0)295 33 6382
• The National Museum’s collection services: Sanna Teittinen, Chief Intendant, National Museum of Finland, sanna.teittinen@kansallismuseo.fi, tel. +358 (0)295 33 6394
• The National Museum’s artefact loans, Satu Frondelius, Amanuensis, National Museum of Finland, satu.frondelius@kansallismuseo.fi, tel. +358 (0)295 33 6390

FHA's collections services

• Finnish Heritage Agency’s customer service at Sturenkatu
• Finnish Heritage Agency’s digital materials (in Finnish)
• Press Photo Archive JOKA and the picture collection of the Maritime Museum of Finland

Collections at Finna

• Finnish Heritage Agency’s digital collections at Finna
• Archaeological collections at Finna
• Press Photo Archive JOKA at Finna
  

The National Museum of Finland's collections

• The National Museum of Finland’s collections at Finna
  
• The National Museum of Finland’s digital collection (in Finnish)