NORDI S K MU S EOLOGI 1996•2, S . 1 39 -148

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF 1916- 1996 - FROM PRESERVATION TO PRESENTATION

Ritva Ware

The National Museum ofFinland was opened to the public in January 1916 This was more than fifty years after the need ofa national museum had first been discussed in public in Finland and almost thirty years after the serious planning ofthe museum was started. The construction ofthe present museum building began in 1905 by permission of Czar Nicholas JI, after years ofdebates both about the location ofthe museum and about its architecture. The paper outlines how the architectural concept was developed and how - in face ofits ongoing renovation - the concern for the museum building as a national monu­ ment inevitably comes into conflict with the ideas for the presentation ofthe collections to a modern public.

The National Museum was used for more These fundamental changes in the use than sixty years as a museum, a storage of the museum building opened the way building and an office building of the to restore the building as a museum. State Archaeological Commission, now­ However, it was as late as 1996, that the adays the National Board of Antiquities planning of a thorough repair and renova­ (Museovirasto/Museiverket). It was as late tion of the museum building and of all its as 1973 that the offices of the National exhibitions could be started_ The rethin­ Board of Antiquities moved to a separate king of the actual role of a national office building near the museum, a former museum is also included in this process. school at Nervanderinkatu 13. The great Here the National Museum of Finland is need for a proper and sufficient storage sharing its problems with many other old space was solved for some decades in and large museums of history and archa­ 1981, when the building of the central eology round the world. storage in Orimattila was inaugurated. The National Museum of Finland is a f)mlJ.\TUo' M!EO WOfJO "I! ISTOR IAl.Lloj ETI/OfJ! AflSW1' till\!'.0011 ' 1 /WIW~~h · [l li11 ttG ' TI U.' !JW:OUX'ISKT' //l~TO Rll KTj E TNOfJIArn~T ' Hllll:Utl 'J 'llEUlttGro ilO, r-

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product of late 19th century thinking and the 19th century she had grown more and expectations both as an institution and as more independent politically, economical­ a building. It was created at an important ly and culturally. Several national institu­ moment in the history of Finland, which tions were founded during the late part of since 1809 had been an autonomous the century, the national museum being Grand Duchy of Russia. In the course of one of them. Conscious work towards a The Nt1tiont1l /\1useum ofFi11!t111d : centrt1l !1t1ll J996 . Photo Mt1tti H11uhkt1. distinctly Finnish culture had started as Lindgren and Elie! Saarinen, who later early as the turn of the 18th and 19th cen­ won reputation as the prominent archi­ turies and both a national consciousness tects in the turn-of-the-century Finland, and a national feeling were growing. Fin­ has made the building an architectural land's relations with the Russian adminis­ monument in which also foreign scholars tration moved into a new phase during and architectural tourists take an interest. the so-called years of oppression between Hence the renovation of the museum will 1899 and 1905, when Finland's autono­ be the renovation of a national monument my was endangered. These years - when with all the difficulties involved. A also the decisions about the national museum cannot stay as a monument to its museum building were made - involved own history, as «a museum of a museum». the widespread diffusion of nationalism in And, as is also very well known, to make a Finland. modern museum in an old building is a The fact that the National Museum was most demanding task. born during a decisive phase of the nation­ building, has in later years made it a THE ROLE OF national monument in itself. And the fact A NATIONAL MUSEUM that, after a complicated planning history, the museum building was designed by the The term 'national museum' was occasio­ young architects Herman Gesellius, Armas nally mentioned during the latter part of RITVA WiiRE

142 the 19th century, denoting the future cen­ the needs of preservation, scientific re­ tral and state-owned museum of archaeo­ search, higher teaching and, in the second logy, history and ethnography. The place, contribute to the education of the museum was established in 1893 by com­ people. Neither the number of visitors nor bining various collections then existing in the quality of the museum visits, not to . The Alexander University own­ mention enjoyment or entertainment were ed and housed the oldest and largest seriously considered. The founding of the numismatic, arhaeological, cultural histo­ museum and somewhat later the construc­ rical and ethnographic collections, even tion of the monumental museum building foreign ethnographic material collected by were great patriotic efforts at the turn of Finnish scientists and travellers from all the century. This would be sufficient for over the world, especially from Russia. more than half a century. The National The students' unions had their own, pri­ Museum was one of the necessities in a marily ethnographic collections, as well as young independent state, as it had been in the Archaeological Society founded in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia. 1870 and the State Archaeological It was needed as a treasury of the national Commission which had been established «regalia» and symbolical objects. Its mere in 1884. The museum was officially called existence showed that Finland also had a the State Museum of History, or some­ past and a history of her own: a matter times the State Museum of History and which had occasionally been discussed Ethnography until 1917 when Finland even in Finland during the 19th century. gained its independence. Since then the At the turn of the last century it was museum has been called the National especially important to show how Finland Museum of Finland. differed from Sweden as well as from The new museum founded in 1893 was Russia, and that the majority of the popu­ placed in the care of the State Archaeo­ lation, the Finnish-speaking people, whose logical Commission. This decision was to language belonged to the group of Fenno­ have great impact on the character of the Ugric (Uralic) languages, also had an indi­ museum in the coming years: the work at genous cultural heritage. In practice it was the museum has always been closely con­ not, however, easy to discern the roles of nected with the research and preservation the different language groups in the for­ of the immovable cultural heritage in mation of the history of the nation or her Finland. During its first sixty years the national characteristics. museum building was used both as a The more general functions of the public museum and as an office building museum were connected with the need of of a growing administration. Today the popular education and enlightment. It was National Museum, together with 13 necessary to show people the develop­ minor museums, functions as a separate ments of the past, so that their present department of the National Board of day, the troubled times of the late 19th Antiquities. century could be better understood. The In the early years the exhibitions of the museum should show people how their museum were arranged primarily to serve ancestors had survived in much more THE NATI ONA L MUSEUM OF FINLAND 1916-1996

demanding circumstances. By telling the partly covered with granite and soapstone. 143 common history of the nation the natio­ The roofs are covered with slates and cop­ nal museum should strenghten the natio­ perplates. nal feeling. A battle of styles had preceded the deci­ sion to announce a design competition for THE MUSEUM BUILDING the museum building. It concerned pri­ marily the principles of architecture, but The State Museum of History was located museum professionals were involved as the in various premises until the new museum debate also had reference to the methods building was ready to be furnished in the of display. beginning of the 191 Os. The main part of The earliest plans for the museum were the exhibitions were opened to the public made as early as 1889 and 1891, some in January 1916, the rest in the course of years before the State Museum of History the 1920s. The building was designed in was officially founded. The programme 1902-05 by the architects Gesellius, Lind­ for the spatial distribution was prepared gren and Saarinen, who had won the by the State Commission for Archaeology architectural competition in 1901-1902. and the planning was carried out by the The museum is located north of the National Board of Public Building. The 19th century city centre, in Tool<>, a dis­ first two plans were signed by the Director trict planned also at the turn of the centu­ of the Board, the architect Sebastian Gri­ ry and built in the first decades of this penberg, the third one in 1899 by the century. The museum is situated in one of architect Hugo Lindberg. All three plans the main streets, Mannerheimintie, and showed a three-storey building with porti­ now has as its neighbours the House of coes and wings partly encircling the back­ Parliament from the 1930s and the yard. The plans with their Roman Doric Finlandia House as well as the new Opera and free Tuscan orders belonged to late building. The museum is surrounded by 19th century classicism, a proper and con­ its own park with the conservation labora­ ventional style for academic and public tory placed in a separate building. The buildings. The 1899 year plan differed museum building is a three-, partly four­ from the previous ones proposing that the storey building with two inner courtyards, facade should be covered with Finnish steep roofs, gables and towers. The main granite. Domestic natural stone materials tower is 50 meters high. The tower and like granite and soapstone gained great the adjoining «church wing», where eccle­ popularity also in Finland in the last years siastical art from the Middle Ages is dis­ of the 1890s and onwards. played, gives the building a church-like At the early planning stage many central appearance, which often misleads foreign locations were proposed to the museum. tourists to consider the building as a The selection of classicism to be applied church or a church altered into a museum. in the building was partly connected with There are also castellated parts with the location in the city centre near the old renaissance motifs. The walls are made of Empire-style buildings, partly with the masonry and they are partly plastered, time and architects, probably also with the flt!TNING TILL BSGGNAD FOF.11 AJ\KEDLOGJSKT-HISTDfltlSKT DC.H ETNDGR/\. FISK'J MUSEUM

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Hugo Lindberg 1899. Design for the State Museum ofHistory and Eth11ogmphy. All pictures here fi'0/11 the archives of the National Board ofAntiquities. fact that the modest collections of the past wish of the museum staff itself. The divi­ of Finland ought to be presented in a clas­ sion of the museum into three depart­ sicistic palace in an equally distinguished ments in accordance with the academic way as in the central museums of other disciplines was inserted also in the finally nations. approved plan, however, having all three The essential idea in the early plans was departments now on one and the same to place the three departments, the archaeo­ level. It was obviously of major importan­ logical, historical and ethnographical, in ce that each department had direct access three floors on top of each other. Each to the central hall as well as that each department was planned to have its department was headed by its own direc­ domestic collections placed in successive tor. This division will be partly abando­ exhibition halls with the corresponding ned in the current renovation plan. foreign collections in adjoining corridors. The hopes to get the building soon into The plan was undoubtedly a schematic its construction stage were good when the one and therefore the building was charac­ Senate approved the 1899 year plan. The terized as a «chest of drawers». At a later project was considered as an urgent one in stage criticism was also addressed to this the atmosphere of the years of oppression plan as the division of three departments and the museum was expected to be com­ into equally sized areas did not allow indi­ pleted by the year 1903. It was in this vidual growth of each collection. This situation that the whole project was arrangement was, however, based on the endangered when the relevance of the TH E N AT I ONAL M USEUM O F F I N L AND 1916 - 199 6

architectural style of the plan was questio­ planning of the museum and the selection 145 ned. In spite of the proposed facades of of a proper location. granite, the planned building was conside­ The criticism was formulated by young­ red totally outdated both as a public buil­ er architects and museum people, or more ding in general and as a museum in parti­ precisely by architects who had worked cular. Neither would it have suited the closely with museum people. The central future townscape of Toolo, the planning figures were and Gustaf of which had started at the same time, Nystrom, who was professor in architectu­ along the then current lines with narrow re and at that time working with the town curved streets and buildings decorated plan for Toolo. Most of the discussions with gables, turrets and other details of were published in daily newspapers or historical architecture as well as of art other forums. Even a pamphlet called Vart nouveau. The fashion in architecture had Museum was published by a group of changed during the ten years spent on the young architects Herman Gesellius, Bertel

Geseilius, Lindgren and Snarinen 1902, co 111petitio11 entl)'• 1st p rize. RIT VA W A RE

146 and modest forms in their competition entry were then seen as very modern. It was even possible to see certain specifically Finnish characteristics in the proposed building, although the allusions to Finnish medieval and renaissance architec­ ture primarily belonged to the function of the building: they were to create a proper and stimulating frame for the collections presented inside. A few foreign museums were named as models in the discussions about the Natio­ nal Museum. They were the museums in Magdeburg, Munchen, Reichenberg and above all the Swiss Landesmuseum in Zurich, planned by Gustaf Gull and com­ pleted in 1898. The seemingly free ground plan was seen especially favourable in regard to future extensions of the buil­ ding, something which was in fact planned several times but never realized, either for architectural or financial reasons. The last effort was made in 1986, when a design competition was arranged. The competi­ Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen I 904. Vignette of the principal drawing: architect 's idea ofth e Catholic tion was won by the architect Aarno Church Hall at the museum. Ruusuvuori with a proposal for a three­ storey underground extension, but it was Jung, Armas Lindgren, Harald Neovius not realized due to the lack of financial and . The primary goal of the resources. architects, being very much concerned Another important feature in Zurich with this matter, was to initiate an archi­ and later also in Helsinki was the variety tectural competition for the museum. The in space and shape as well as in the archi­ antagonism between «old» and young tectural decoration of the exhibition architects as well as between architects in rooms. The rooms were each designed for public service and private architects was a specific type of collection or for a certain also involved in this case. period. The intention was to create fasci­ The old plan was rejected in 1900 and a nating and pedagogically effective rooms. competition was arranged in 1901-1902. The shift to a public-oriented museum The first prize was, not surprisingly, awar­ planning was evident and it happened ear­ ded to the architects Gesellius, Lindgren ly in the history of museums. Unfortu­ and Saarinen who had got deeply acquain­ nately it was never fully realized in the ted with the museum project. The rough National Museum of Finland. Most of the The National Museum ofFinland 1995: exhibition ofprehistory. Photo Matti Huuhka. RITVA WARE

148 planned decorations for walls and ceilings 1880-19 10. Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistyksen were not painted because of limited finan­ Aikakauskirja 91. Helsinki. cial resources. Only a few of the exhibi­ Tuomi (Ware), Ritva, 1979. On the search for a tion rooms were used in the way the archi­ national style. Abacus, Museum ofFinnish tects had imagined. Even the first displays Architecture Yearbook 1979. Helsinki. P. 57-96. were built according to the ideas of the Ware, Ritva, 1986. Yleisten rakennusten ylihallitus museum staff. Later on the different ja va ltion museo. Rakennwhallitus 1811-1986, departments and rooms have, of course, 175 vuotta. Helsinki, Suomen rakennustaitee n been newly arranged from time to time. museo. P. 96-103. - A short article on the earlier The varied and architecturally interes­ stages of the planning of the museum building. ting ground plans and exhibition rooms Ware, Ritva, 1991. Rakennettu suomalairnus. offer both an advantage and a challenge Nationalismi viime vuosisadan vaihteen arkkiteh­ when exhibitions are planned, especially t1111rissa ja sitii koskevissa kiijoituksissa. Suomen in a situation when all the exhibitions are Muinaismuistoyhdistyksen Aikakauskirja 95 to be renewed to serve the visitors of today (Summary: Making architecture Finnish. and the future. The same also applies to Nationalism in architecture and architectural the difficulties with modern museum writings in Finland at the turn of the last centu­ technics: they, too, can be adopted only ry). on the terms of the old building. Neither Ware, Ritva, 1993. How Nationalism was expressed of these problems can have common solu­ in Finnish Architecture at the Turn of the Last tions, nor models to follow. The museums Century. Art and the National Dream. The Search are particular buildings and museum visits for Vemacular Expression i11 tum-ofthe-century do con'sist of experiences in space, of wal­ Design. Edited by Nicola Gordon Bowe. Dublin, king and standing in very specific rooms. Irish Academic Press. P. 169-180. Preliminary work for the planning of repair and renewal started in 199 3 and the draft plans are expected to be completed Ritva U?'iire is Ph.D. in art histo1y (University of in the autumn of 1996. The planning Helsinki). Since 1992 she is the Director ofthe work for the new exhibitions is going on National Mweum ofFin land. parallelly. Assuming that the financial Adr: National Mweum ofFin land, P. O.Box 913, plan can be followed too, the work should FIN-00101 H elsinki be completed in the year 2000. Fax +358-094050400

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kopisto, Sirkka, 1981. S110111e11 lwnsallismweo, kan­ sallisro111anttise11 ka11de11 rake11nw111on11111entti. M useovirasto, H elsin ki. - The first historical sur­ vey on the museum building. Ringbom, Sixten, 1987. Stone, Style and Tmth. The Vogue for Natural Stone in Nordic Architecture