Exhibitions
March into the exhibitions
The museum’s exhibitions are on display in both barracks buildings.
In the main exhibition building, you start your march from the crisis that the new nation faced in 1918. The journey continues through the years of peace until the freezing cold and fiery battles of the Winter War hit you in the face. The exhibitions take you from one war year to another, sometimes letting you catch your breath in a dugout during trench warfare, but then pushing you into the middle of the summer of 1944 and the firestorm of Ihantala. The journey through the main exhibition finally ends with the burning of Lapland.
In the special exhibition building, you have the opportunity to direct your marching steps in many different directions. The exhibitions present the older and more modern periods of the Finnish infantry. Along this journey, there is also room for many parties supporting the infantry – soldier boys, the civil guard and the military home sisters. The infantry’s journey also extends abroad, in the boots of peacekeepers and Finnish SS volunteers.
2000m²
Exhibition space
10k+
Visitors yearly
Bending, not breaking - The defensive battles 1944.
Welcome to the renewed Summer 1944 exhibition at the Infantry Museum. The exhibition presents the seven summer defensive battles. In these battles, Soviet attacks were successfully repelled. Although the defense front buckled in the summer of 1944, it did not break. The exhibition also offers the opportunity to explore the Ihantala defensive battles through a virtual experience. The battle animation presents the 10 days of battles in the area using new technology.
Finnish Civil Guard
The Civil Guard were a strong popular movement of their time, and one of the pillars that maintained Finland’s independence during war years. The organization is also controversial and still stirs up opinions today – 80 years after its abolition.
FIRE IN THE COLD - Winter war 1939-40
The Infantry Museum’s renewed Winter War exhibition, “Fire in the Frost – Winter War 1939-40”, takes you into the midst of fierce battles, where the endurance of the young Defence Forces was tested to the limit.