![Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Luostarinm%C3%A4ki_Handicrafts_Museum.JPG)
Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum ( fi, Luostarinmäen käsityöläismuseo, sv, Hantverksmuseet på Klosterbacken; ''Cloister Hill Handicrafts Museum'') is an
open-air museum
An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum.
Definition
Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere ...
in
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
( sv, Åbo),
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
.
Cloister Hill
![Charta öfver Åbo stad och slott med slotts fältet 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Charta_%C3%B6fver_%C3%85bo_stad_och_slott_med_slotts_f%C3%A4ltet_1.jpg)
This area of Cloister Hill was developed relatively late for pre-fire Åbo, from around 1775, after another fire. It was decided that the previously undeveloped, although not uninhabited, area to the south of Vartiovuori Hill would be developed as residential accommodation. The South of this area was less rocky and easier to build upon, so was developed first. Plots were surveyed officially, then the plot holder would develop within that plot as and when they saw fit. These first surveyed plots still form the boundaries within the current museum. Three plots: 158–160 appear on the maps of 1780, by 1800 171, 176, 178–189 are included and the 1808 map (the basis of the post-fire map illustrated) includes the whole extent of the museum site.
The original occupations of the first inhabitants are represented by the buildings now within the museum. Some were building trades, such as carpenters and a
stonemason, and probably built their own properties. The plot would be fenced in and a simple cottage with a stove and baking oven built. Other buildings might be provided for domestic animals. In time, the buildings would expand around the perimeter of the plot, enclosing a courtyard.
The museum
The museum consists of 18 blocks of original 18th-century – early 19th-century buildings on their original location. The area of the museum was the only old residential area left in 1940, when the museum was opened. The location was the largest area to completely survive the
Great Fire of Turku
The Great Fire of Turku ( fi, Turun palo, sv, Åbo brand and russian: Пожар Або) was a conflagration in the city of Turku in 1827. It is still the largest urban fire in the history of Finland and the Nordic countries. The city had burned ...
.
The idea for the museum was put forward in a local newspaper article as early as 1908, after the oldest part of Cloister Hill had been demolished – now the street of Sirkkalankatu. The idea was rejected for nearly 30 years, until the city's new museum committee was convinced to create a museum in the style of
Den Gamle By
Den Gamle By, or The Old Town in English, is an open-air town museum located in the Aarhus Botanical Gardens, in central Aarhus, Denmark. In 1914, the museum opened as the world's first open-air museum of its kind, concentrating on town culture ...
, an earlier museum in
Aarhus, Denmark. Nine blocks formed the original museum, the others being added in 1956. Expansion has continued since, with more buildings having their interiors refitted for display. On their addition to the museum, the houses were still decorated in the contemporary fashion of the 1930s. They were carefully recorded, then the interiors refitted to the style of the Great Fire period. This often involved removing ceilings of
tongue and groove
Tongue and groove is a method of fitting similar objects together, edge to edge, used mainly with wood, in flooring, parquetry, panelling, and similar constructions. Tongue and groove joints allow two flat pieces to be joined strongly together ...
boards, or the restoration of open fireplaces. Some residents remained living in the museum area even after it opened, the last, Hilma Mäenpää, remaining there until her death in 1982.
The museum received the Golden Apple
international tourism
International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalisation has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual en ...
award as the only site in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
in 1984.
See also
*
Qwensel House, the apothecary museum in Turku
References
*
External links
Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum
Open-air museums in Finland
Finnish handicrafts
Museums in Turku
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