Museum A-Ö » Maritime museum of Vaasa

Vaasa used to be an important shipping company and maritime city. In the Vaasa Maritime Museum are displayed local maritime traditions from the shipbuilding of the 19th century to the present day luxury yachts. Various fascinating objects, scale models, shipwrecks and photographs give a glimpse of the life of old time seafarers.

The Vaasa Maritime Museum is located on the shore of the Palosaari strait. The strait was for over 150 years the outport of Vaasa and the centre of shipbuilding. In the 19th century and early 20th century the shore was bordered with the shops and magazines of traders, and the museum is situated in one of these old salt magazines. Ship-owner Wolff had a salt magazine constructed in the middle of the 19th century and the building has been well preserved thanks to the conserving effect of salt. There are four original harbour magazines on the area altogether, one of which probably dates back to the late 18th century and has been relocated on the area from Old Vaasa.
The maritime history of Vaasa is represented with an extensive collection of photographs and scale models as well as with the help of various fascinating artefacts. A big lighthouse lantern originating from Valsörarna welcomes visitors in the lobby, and on the walls can be seen photographs and information about the Kvarken lighthouses and life of the lighthouse keepers. Many vessels have shipwrecked in the rocky archipelago of the Kvarken. Interesting discoveries rescued from the wrecks are displayed in the museum. One of the pearls of the museum is the diving suit from the beginning of the 20th century, which weighs about 100 kg.

The upstairs exhibition hall is filled with scale models of historical vessels. There are scale models and photographs from the golden age of sail ships in the 19th century in the hall – a scale model of the last post vessel, which sailed between Eckerö and Grisslehamn, a scale model of Finland’s first steamer to sail outside the Baltic Sea and scale models of many other historical vessels. Scale models have also been constructed of newer cruisers, and some of the crews’ uniforms are displayed as well. The ferry traffic between Vaasa and Umeå has had a great significance for Vaasa’s present day seafaring. Steamers were used in the 1950s, until they were replaced by the large cruise ships. Vaasa’s many shipping companies are represented with both pictures and artefacts.

There is an exhibition displaying approximately hundred boat engines in the museum for those interested in technology. The collection displays a cross section of the different motor manufacturers in Vaasa. There have been around 14 motor manufacturers here during the years, for instance Wickström in the old days and Wärtsilä at present.

On the hill next to the museum have been placed five stones to indicate the different stages of upthrust during the centuries. On the Kvarken region the earth rises approximately one metre per century.

Summer 2023 special exhibition: Onkilahti engineering factorys (Onkilahden konepaja, later Wärtsilä) history and ship drawings