Museums in Finland
Finland has 152 professionally managed museums, which are responsible for over 320 museum sites. There are also nearly a thousand local museums, largely run by volunteers.
Finland's national museums are the National Museum, the Finnish National Gallery, and the Natural History Museum.
Finland has 32 museums with regional responsibility for providing cultural heritage expertise and partnerships in their region. Each museum promotes one of three areas: museum activities (22 museums), the cultural environment (22 museums) or the arts (17 museums). There are also 17 museums with national responsibility to provide nationwide expertise in their respective fields.
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.
