Welcome to the Helinä Rautavaara Ethnographic Museum! The museum is located in Espoon keskus, in the Entresse shopping centre. Open Tue-Sun. Free entry!
The Finnish Anthropological Society awarded the Helinä Rautavaara Museum the Anthropological Act of the Year 2021 Award on March 30, 2022. As they said, ‘The operation of the Helinä Rautavaara Museum is an excellent example of how a versatile anthropological perspective and know-how can benefit museum work and become a part of the public debate and development.’
‘This award is a wonderful acknowledgement of more than 20 years of work,’ said Museum Director Ilona Niinikangas. ‘Museums have an important role to play in a changing world. We no longer just preserve the past, we are also part of building the future. Through our actions, we at the Helinä Rautavaara Museum want to show that a small ethnographic museum in Finland can be a bigger player than its size would suggest, and that we can respond to global challenges through anthropological expertise and museum work.’
A full statement from the Finnish Anthropological Society is available in Finnish at their website: Vuoden antropologinen teko 2021.