Museums in Finland
Finland has 150 professionally-operated museums, which are responsible for over 300 museum sites. In addition, Finland has nearly one thousand local museums, which are largely managed on a volunteer basis.
National museums are the national Museum of Finland, Finnish National Gallery and Finnish Museum of Natural History.
The task of 22 regional museums and 16 national special museums designated by the Ministry of Education and Culture is to steer and promote museum operations in their respective regions. National special museums co-ordinate national storage, research and exhibition activities within their area of specialisation. In addition to this, the Ministry of Defence has designated the Military Museum a national special museum of military history.
Museum and cultural heritage in the Ministry of Education and Culture
The Ministry's Department for Culture and Art Policy oversees museum and cultural heritage affairs. University museum operations fall within the university steering and funding system, which is overseen by the Department for Higher Education and Science Policy.
Operating under the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Finnish Heritage Agency serves as a national expert, developer and authority on matters related to museums, cultural heritage and cultural environment.
Museum and cultural heritage actors
The Finnish Heritage Agency is responsible for development of the museum sector and serves in an administrative capacity on matters related to cultural heritage and cultural environment. The National Museum of Finland operates as part of the Finnish Heritage Agency.
The Finnish Museums Association trains and develops the Finnish museum sector.
The Finnish Local Heritage Federation promotes local heritage work.
The Association of Cultural Heritage Education in Finland promotes education in cultural heritage and cultural environment.
The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) is an expert and service agency for promoting the arts.
The Finnish Antiquarian Society is a scholarly society for the purpose of promoting research on Finland and other Finno-Ugrian peoples and regions.
The Finnish Cultural Heritage Foundation works to preserve Finnish cultural heritage.
Finnish National Committee of ICOM (ICOM Finland)
The Nordic Association of Conservators - Finland represents the field of conservation in Finland.
The Finnish Association for Museum Education Pedaali promotes the profession of museum education.
