Fiskars museum

About the museum

Fiskars Museum is located at Hammarbacken in the Upper Ironworks of Fiskars. The area took its name from a tilt hammer (kankirautavasara) that stood on the same spot in the upper reaches of the Fiskars river as early as the 1600s. The Upper Ironworks was the centre of Fiskars’ heavy industry, where there was also a machine shop, a foundry, a rolling mill and a plough workshop.

The museum’s main building is the former office of the machine shop, built in the mid-19th century as living and working quarters for office clerks. The building became a museum in 1949 on the initiative of the office clerk Laura Holmström and the midwife Gerda Gers. In the 2014 restoration the surface layers and colours were restored according to the old layers of paint and wallpaper. The site also includes a bread-baking house (leivintupa), the Slaggbyggnaden, a slag-brick building erected in 1842 as a canteen for workers, a museum garden, and the Fiskars locomotive shed, completed in 2025.

The museum’s permanent exhibition presents the life of the ironworkers, in everyday life and in holiday life, from the 17th century to the present day. In the attic of the Slaggbyggnaden the exhibition tells of living and life there from the Second World War to the 1970s, and the locomotive shed displays Finland’s oldest surviving narrow-gauge steam locomotive, Pikku-Pässi (Little Pässi), from 1891.

Highlights

• Permanent exhibition Elämää Fiskarsin ruukissa (Life at the Fiskars Ironworks)
• Old office, where historical layers of paint and wallpaper are visible in the rooms
• Bread-baking house, where museum education and workshops are held
• Slaggbyggnaden with the exhibition Leski ja poikamies (Widow and Bachelor) and Café Hammarbacken
• Fiskars locomotive shed and the steam locomotive Pikku-Pässi from 1891
• Hammarbacken museum garden

Permanent exhibitions

• Elämää Fiskarsin ruukissa – The permanent exhibition presents the everyday and holiday life of the ironworkers from the 17th century to the present day; the contents of the first-floor theme room change.
• Yläruukki – The exhibition tells of the work of the workshops of the upper ironworks in its heyday at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Leski ja poikamies – In the attic of the Slaggbyggnaden, living and life at the ironworks from the Second World War to the 1970s are presented.

Founded

1949

Operated by

Fiskarsin kotiseutuyhdistys

Director

Emi Ingo

Admission & discounts

Adult ticket €6 from 1 September to 31 May and €7 from 1 June to 31 August; reduced ticket €5 or €6. Free admission with the Museokortti (Finnish Museum Card), and tickets can also be bought with the ePassi app. Free admission also for war veterans and Lottas, members of local heritage associations, and museum staff and volunteers. Many museum events are free of charge.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: not available
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: not available
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum grounds are only partly accessible. The Fiskars locomotive shed is accessible, but the other museum buildings are not: the rooms are small, the buildings have thresholds and stairs, and the main building has steps at its entrance. The museum has objects to touch for visually impaired visitors and people with special needs, and in some rooms the lighting is dim. Guide dogs are welcome, and guides help if needed. Adapted guided tours and workshops are held for special groups. There is no parking space for people with reduced mobility or for coaches on top of the hill.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations

Children under 18 enter the museum free of charge. For children and school pupils there are experiential time-travel tours, hands-on workshops and ironworkers’ tasks in the bread-baking house.

Getting there & parking

The information desk and ticket sales are in the main building at Peltorivi 13.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

Café Hammarbacken in the Slaggbyggnaden (Peltorivi 26) offers locally produced organic treats; café space can be rented for smaller gatherings (Café Antique, +358 45 649 5626, info@cafeantique.fi). With the Museokortti, 10% off certain products. Museum shop in the main building.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent

The café space can be rented for smaller gatherings.

Plan your visit