Search
The environmental artwork by Ger C. Bout (b.1950), made from galvanised steel wire mesh, is a three-dimensional model representing a traditional Finnish wooden house. With this sculpture, the artist wanted to explore the basic concepts of space and architecture. This transparent two-room “granny cabin” is the embodiment of the idea of small scale architecture. The sculpture is located in the courtyard of the Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Museum, thus lying right on top of Old Turku.
The sculpture Carro Celeste (”Heavenly carriage”) by Italian artist Mariella Bettineschi is connected to traditions of Pop art and Constructivism. The cobalt blue carriage creates a surrealistic illusion of a moving vehicle, rolling down the hill. In reality, this sculpture with wheels is firmly attached to the ground with invisible support structures.
The bronze sculpture Europe donated to the City of Turku by Dutch artist Jits Bakker (1937-2014) was inspired by Greek mythology. Zeus fell in love with Europe, who was the daughter of a king. In order to get Europe, Zeus turned himself into a bull and took the beautiful woman to the island of Crete. This sculpture was unveiled on 11 June 2008.
Life Cycle by Alice Baillaud (b.1975) was designed specifically for the courtyard of Kaskenlinna hospital. This sculpture reflects the cycle of life through the flowerbeds that change throughout the year and the human silhouettes depicting different stages of life. These silhouettes include a mother carrying her child, a young man, and an elderly couple looking tenderly at each other. One side of the silhouettes is made of corten steel and the other is mirrored.
The bronze town map relief, designed by Bruno Aspelin (1870-1941), called Turun Tuomiokirkon kortteli v. 1756 (The Turku Cathedral Block in 1756) was unveiled in 1930. The sculpture was erected by the G.A. Petrelius donation fund, and it is one of the many monuments in the parks surrounding the Cathedral. The sculpture is also known as “The old cathedral block in 1756”.
Sateenkaaren salaisuus (Secret of the Rainbow) is an environmental artwork by Jan-Erik Andersson (b.1954) in Biolaakso (Bio Valley) in Turku. The work is composed of two pedestrian bridges and 24 rainbow coloured light poles.
Jan-Erik Andersson’s (b.1954) three-part environmental artwork animates the Theatre Bridge in Turku. The work is a storylike depiction of the meeting between the Brownie of the Turku Castle and Valpuri Innamaa. The artwork was acquired as part of the environmental art project of the Pro Cultura Foundation.
The children in Anja Aho’s (1931-1992) bronze sculpture Lapset (Children) sit on their knees by the fountain on Yliopistonkatu. In 1957 Aho won a sculpting invitational by the company Rakennus Oy and its managing director Uno Pikarla. Rakennus Oy donated the sculpture to the City of Turku, and in 1959 it was erected by the fountain on the square of the housing cooperative Kasinonkulma.
The educational collection includes the museum items that visitors can touch and use. These items are catalogued and their use is monitored. The collection only includes donated items.
This collection was established in 1987 with the opening of the Kylämäki Village in Kurala. The items in the collection are used in the demonstrations of old work methods and life styles. Museum guests are allowed to use the objects. The collection helps conserve intangible cultural heritage attached to the objects.
Most of the objects in the historic era collection have been found in urban archaeological digs in Turku. There have been digs at the site of the medieval town as well as in areas untouched by urban living before the 17th and 18th centuries.
These digs have produced a wide range of findings. Due to damp and anoxic conditions, organic materials such as leather and wood have been preserved. Most objects are fragments and pieces, only a few have survived whole.
All prehistoric findings are usually deposited in the collections of the National Museum of Finland. This is based on the Antiquities Act which dictates that the National Board of Antiquities has the right to claim the findings for state collections.
The Turku Museum Centre started assembling its extensive collection of archaeological objects and samples at the end of the 19th century. Today the collection comprises over 100 000 objects dating back to the prehistoric (before 1150 BC) and the historic eras.
The archaeological collection is used in research projects, and it is displayed in exhibitions of the Museum Centre. Objects from this collection are sometimes on loan in other exhibitions.
The findings and samples from archaeological excavations by the Museum Centre are usually deposited in the collection.
The Turku Museum Centre has an extensive natural science collection, which the Turku Biological Museum is responsible for. The collection includes around 1200 samples of vertebrates, namely birds and mammals, and around 12 000 samples of invertebrates. Additionally, the collection has a few thousand wildlife photographs, received mainly as donations from hobbyists.
Museums can also have live collections. The Turku Museum Centre’s collection of traditional plants is a “live gene bank” that includes the ornamental and useful plants in the Kylämäki Village in Kurala.
Turku Museum Center's photographic collections include approximately 1.7 million photos, negatives and slides from the 1840s to the present day.
The photo collections are expanded with donations and as a result of the museum's own photography activities. Photographic material related to Turku and Southwest Finland forms a central part of the collection. The collection contains rarities, such as Henrik Cajander's daguerreotype taken in Turku on November 3, 1842, which is considered to be the oldest photograph in Finland.
The object collection of the Turku Museum Centre comprises around 280 000 objects. The collection has been accumulated since the beginning of the 1880s with donated, collected and bought objects. Objects from local gentry and bourgeois homes and manors form the foundation of the collection.
Victor Westerholm (1860-1919) was the first curator of the Turku Art Museum and a director at the Turku Art School. Wäinö Aaltonen studied painting under Westerholm in 1910-1915. Westerholm had a great influence on the development of the Turku Art School and of the Finnish arts education.
The memorial herm of Westerholm by Aaltonen is erected in front of the Turku Art Museum. A herm is a sculpture with a bust or a head placed on top of a square column.
The herm of R.W. Ekman by Wäinö Aaltonen (1894-1966) stands in front of the Turku Art Museum. A herm is a sculpture with a bust or a head placed on top of a square column.
Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1808-1873) was a notable Finnish painter in the 1850s. He was also the founder and first director of the Turku Art School. Ekman’s most famous works are the frescoes in the chancel of the Turku Cathedral.
The herm of Ekman was acquired with the help of a donation from Gustav Albert Petrelius, and it was unveiled on 4 January 1927.
The state commissioned a sculpture of the multiple Olympic gold medallist Paavo Nurmi (1897-1973) in 1924. This was the first public sculpture commission in independent Finland, and it depicts the athlete naked, according to the ideals of ancient Olympia.
In Turku, Wäinö Aaltonen (1984-1966) wanted the sculpture to face the training grounds in Littoinen, and it stands now on a traffic island on Itäinen Rantakatu. The sculpture highlights the agility of the athlete’s step and the long movements of his body.
The sculpture Myrsky (Storm) stands on the terrace of the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art. It depicts a woman striding forward, her hair and skirt blowing in the wind. The sculpture is a second mould of the memorial in Pori for the victims of the sunken torpedo boat S2 (1925). Finland’s Ministry of Defence commissioned the memorial from Aaltonen in 1928. Myrsky is the most emotionally tragic of the artist’s monuments.
Professor Juhani Pallasmaa (b.1936) designed the Muistijälki (Memory trace) piece in honour of the centennial of the birth of Wäinö Aaltonen (1894-1966). This work consists of the sculpture Muusa (Muse) by Aaltonen and a steel structure indicating the site of Aaltonen’s former workshop. Muusa was unveiled on 30 May 1994 as part of Pallasmaa’s piece.
Turun Lilja (The Lily of Turku) by Wäinö Aaltonen (1894-1966) stands in Runeberg Park next to the Aura Bridge. It was the first outdoor sculpture acquired by the City of Turku. This modernist sculpture was Aaltonen’s third monument, and it was realised in granite in the stoneworks of J.E. Forsman in Helsinki. The sculpture was completed in 1924-1926 and unveiled in 1928.
The two riders in this sculpture placed in front of the Turku Concert Hall symbolise the friendship between Turku and Gothenburg, who have been twin cities since 1946.
The series Työ ja tulevaisuus (Work and future) by Wäinö Aaltonen (1894-1966) includes five sculptures designed for the Parliament chamber: Henkinen työ, Tulevaisuus, Raivaaja, Usko ja Sadonkorjaaja (Intellectual Work, Future, Settler, Faith and Harvester). These were the winning sculptures of a competition, and they represent the ideals of the people of a young nation.
The head of Aleksis Kivi sculpted by Wäinö Aaltonen (1894-1966) and placed in front of the Turku City Theatre is connected to the memorial of Kivi in the Railway Square in Helsinki. The memorial was commissioned from Aaltonen after competitions in 1927-1928 and 1930. There were no photographs of Kivi, so the statue is modelled after drawings made beside the writer’s deathbed. Aaltonen’s design is an idealization of the features of a writer who was reflective and suffered for his art.