Tuomainengården

About the museum

Tuomainengården is one of Varanger museum's Kven farmsteads (kvengårder) in Ytrebyen in Vadsø and stands beside Esbensengården. The farm was originally called Vinikkagården. Johan Petter Vinikka built the house in 1851, after emigrating from Tornedalen in 1845. Before 1900 Vinikka mortgaged the farm to the merchant H. F. Esbensen, who rented out rooms to newly arrived immigrants.

In 1918 Karoline and Karl Tuomainen bought the house. The family fished and ran small-scale farming with sheep, cows, an ox and a horse, and they owned the farm until the 1980s, when it was bequeathed to the municipality. The house is a Varanger house (Varangerhus), where living quarters and cowshed were under the same roof. During a conversion in the 1950s, the passage between them was closed.

The farm has a smoke sauna (røykbadstue) that was public until 1932 and was converted into a workshop in 1938. The former cowshed later became a wood-fired sauna. Neighbours paid to bake bread in the farm's bakehouse, and a commercial bakery operated there from 1938 to 1947.

Highlights

• Varanger house from 1851 with living quarters and cowshed under one roof
• Kven and Norwegian-Finnish farm with smithy, bakehouse and sauna
• Smoke sauna that was public until 1932
• Owned and run by Varanger museum

Operated by

Varanger museum IKS (Vadsø museum – Ruija kvenmuseum)

Admission & discounts

Guide prices for Varanger museum from 1 January 2026.

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