Helsinki City Museum has its third consecutive record-breaking year
In 2018, the museums of the Helsinki City Museum family were visited by a total of 444,898 people. The year was the third consecutive record-breaking year for the museum.
In 2018, the total number of visitors to the museums of the Helsinki City Museum family – Helsinki City Museum, Villa Hakasalmi, the Burgher’s House and the Tram Museum – was 444,898. The Worker Housing Museum was closed for the entire year, but will reopen for the summer season of 4 May to 1 September 2019.
Villa Hakasalmi, which was closed for the spring and the summer due to renovations, was visited by 27,558 people in 2018. Villa Hakasalmi is currently holding the Carefree Capital exhibition, which offers a glimpse into Helsinki in the 1920s. The exhibition will remain open until 1 September 2019.
The largest number of visitors in 2018 – 364,543 – was received by Helsinki City Museum, located at the corner of the Senate Square. The City Museum was also awarded a Special Commendation in the international European Museum of the Year competition. The jury notes in their reasons that the City Museum is a warm and readily accessible museum that has incorporated co-operation with residents as a significant principle.
“It’s great that the number of visitors has increased and settled at a very good level over the last three years. It looks like the people of Helsinki have genuinely found their own museum, and the museum is also an attractive tourist destination,” rejoices Museum Director Tiina Merisalo.
In 2019, the City Museum will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Signe Brander. Born on 15 April 1869, Brander took around one thousand photographs for the Helsinki City Board of Antiquities and the City Museum between 1907 and 1913. They form the basis of the City Museum’s photograph collections. In April, the museum will also introduce the new version 2.0 of the Time Machine virtual experience. In the Time Machine program, Signe Brander’s photographs from a hundred years ago come to life through new technology.
