About the museum

The Finnish Museum of the Deaf preserves the cultural heritage of the deaf in Finland. The museum is part of the Finnish Labour Museum Werstas. The museum exhibition is located in Helsinki, The Light house.

The exhibition of the museum is located in the Light House in Helsinki, where the premises of the Finnish Association of the Deaf are. Museum collections and the office of the museum are situated in the premises of Werstas in Tampere. The virtual museum will play an important role in sharing information of deaf history, and virtual exhibitions are arranged here in the future.

History of the museum

The idea of collecting material related to the past of the deaf in Finland arose as early as in the beginning of the 20th century. John Sundberg was a travelling advocate of the Finnish Association of the Deaf, founded in 1905, and a journalist of the association’s magazine Kuurojen Lehti. He had been told that museums depicting the history of deaf education existed in Paris and Leipzig, which inspired him to start planning for a similar museum in Finland.

The starting point of the museum has been estimated on the basis of the donations given to the museum in 1907 by Fritz and Maria Hirn. The Hirns were former pupils of Carl Oscar Malm, the founder of deaf education in Finland. They donated to the museum photographs and materials dating back to their school days. The museum collections increased gradually. The first exhibition, Carl Oscar Malm’s museum room, was opened to the public in Helsinki for the first time on the 12th of February 1915.

Functions of the museum

The function of the museum is to collect, research and exhibit the cultural heritage of the deaf and sign language users in Finland. The aim of the museum is to increase knowledge of the history and culture of the deaf and sign language users and to strengthen their identity. In addition, the museum aims at communicating knowledge related to its specialty to the public at large.

The varied collections of the museum serve both researchers and other customers. The Finnish Museum of the Deaf co-operates with other museums and instances that carry out research on the deaf and sign language both in Finland and internationally. The museum does research and presents it through its exhibition activities and the materials it produces.

Exhibition

The Light House (Valkea talo)
Ilkantie 4, 00400 Helsinki

FREE ENTRY

ACCESSIBILITY:
The width of the Light House automatic door with one door open:
92 cm, with both doors open 188 cm. Small threshold, less than 3 cm.

The entrance to the museum exhibition has double doors.
Width with one door open: 98 cm, width with two doors open 166 cm, no threshold.

The exhibition door can be opened from buttons outside the museum
and inside the museum.
The width of the exhibition passageways is 90 cm – 120 cm.
The width of the emergency exit door to the exhibition is 80 cm,
including the threshold.

ARRIVAL AT THE MUSEUM: Commuter train to Huopalahti station, change to bus no. 41 and get off at the Haaga Vocational School (Haagan ammattikoulu) stop, or about a 10 minute walk to the Light House.

Bus no. 40, departure from Elielinaukio, stop at Haaga Vocational School (in front of the Light House).

Collections of The Finnish Museum of the Deaf

reseacher Sirpa Varis
tel. +358 40 5286982
E-mail: info@kuurojenmuseo.fi

Address

Työväenmuseo Werstas / Kuurojen museo
Väinö Linnan aukio 8
33210 Tampere