Varsamäen hevosajoneuvomuseo

The Varsamäki horse-drawn vehicle museum in Kangasala presents more than 70 horse-drawn vehicles, most of them from the Liuksiala manor.

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About the museum

The collection of the Varsamäki horse-drawn vehicle museum comes mainly from the Liuksiala manor in Kangasala. The Meurman family has owned the manor since 1821, when Karl Otto Meurman bought it. Farmer and horse breeder Lasse Meurman (1908–1991) began moving the manor’s vehicles to the attic of a stone cowshed in 1979, and the museum was first opened to the public in 1981 in connection with the Kangasala agricultural show.

The museum operates in a stone cowshed more than a hundred years old. Most of the vehicles are displayed in the attic, and on the ground floor there are almost 70 sleighs waiting to be put on display. The collection contains more than 70 horse-drawn vehicles: carriages, carts, sleighs and other vehicles. Some of them were donated by the Kangasala Karelian Association, the Kangasala parish and private donors.

Among the museum’s best-known objects are the black Russian droshkies from the 1810s and 1820s, which were restored with grants from the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto) and the Häme Museum Association and are still roadworthy. The collection also includes 19th-century hearses, covered carriages from the early 20th century, the Liuksiala hunting carriages, evacuee carts and hay carts known as devil’s carts (pirunkärryt), whose wheels are in the middle. The dilisanssit (horse-drawn coaches) carried passengers between Kangasala station and the church village from 1909 to 1923, until a Ford bus replaced them. The museum is run by Sinikka and Mikko Meurman.

Highlights

More than 70 horse-drawn vehicles
Roadworthy Russian droshkies from the 1810s and 1820s
Devil’s carts with their wheels in the middle
19th-century hearses and early 20th-century covered carriages
Stone cowshed more than a hundred years old as a museum