Untitled Document

Rauman Museo History History of the Museum The Rauma Museum was founded in 1891. The museum which was started on the initiative of private citizens soon came under the care of the City of Rauma. Over the more than one hundred years of operation, the museum has concentrated on the history of the City of Rauma and the local city culture. The particular characteristics of the City are its built up environment, seafaring and lace The museum collects, studies, and makes known the culture of its own region.In addition to the collection of artefacts, the museum has collected archive material and photographs. Photographs have also been taken during the time of the museum's own documentation work. And the same applies to interviews that have been recorded. Research studies by the museum have been presented in the form of exhibitions, publications, and general lectures. Altogether the museum has five properties in use which are all open to the public. Of these the Old Town Hall, Marela, and Kirsti are situated in the Old Rauma area and they are also points of convergence for lace making and the use of lace. The potter's workshop is situated outside the old town, at that time due to the danger of fire it could not be located in the densely built town area. In addition the museum has in its care the look out tower associated with the local seafaring tradition, the Kiikartorni.
THE OLD TOWN HALL The Rauma museum operates in the Old Town Hall, that was completed in 1776. The drawings for the construction were approved by Christian Schröder who was the architect of the City of Turku. The design was by the master mason Johan Schytt of Turku who was also responsible for construction work, and the original drafts were done by Rauma's own magistrates. In the design and fulfillment of the steep roof and the tower rising from it, an experienced church builder was needed. Such people were the church warden Job Höckert from the nearby parish of Lappi, who built the roof, and Anders Wahlberg, a master builder from the Turku area, who designed the tower of the Town Hall. The shape of the tower is similar to that of the church towers designed bythe same builder. The old town hall of Rauma represents mostly the Baroque style, but the basic form of the building, a two-storey town hall with twin towers,actually dates back to Mediaeval towns. In Finland the only other 17th century town hall that survives in its original form is that in Porvoo. On the upper storey there were the Council Chamber, offices, and archives; on the lower storey the gaol, and shop premises. In 1902 the town council moved to new premises and the building was handed over to the Rauma Museum. At present, the Old Town Hall houses exhibits associated with the history, and the sea faring and lace making traditions of the town.
MARELA The name of the house is derived from one Abraham Marelin, a 17th century owner of the house, who was a merchant and a shipowner as were the later owners of the house.The shape of the lot and the majority of the buildings date from the times of the Paqvalin family whose ownership of the house lasted for nearly a hundred years. The original plot was joined to the neighbouring plot called Jäkäri. A new main building was completed in 1825. The large grain store dates from 1830. The adjoining carriage shed was erected in the mid-19th century. The other house facing the road is also from 1830. First it comprised storage space and a row of outhouses including the stables, a cow barn, and a shed; a bake house, and servants' hall were added later. The present exterior of the house dates from the late 19th century. At that time the building got its handsome Nouveau Renaissance cladding. At the same time other parts of the town were also undergoing renovation work, so that about two-thirds of the buildings were given a new, fashionable appearance. The flourishing of the sailing ship era in the late 19th century brought wealth to the town. At that time the house was owned by Gabriel Granlund, one of the wealthiest merchant-shipowners of the town. The decorative tiled heating stoves, doors, the painted or panelled ceilings all tell of wealth,and the museum interior of the lifestyle of an old shipowner family. Marela has been a museum since 1980.

KIRSTI The "Kirsti" group of houses on the River Rauma illustrates the building construction of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The main house is built along the street from where a gate leads through the building into the yard. The outbuildings, storage shed, the stables, and cow barn are located around the edges of the plot. Where there are no buildings, the yard is surrounded by a board fence. An area where the animals were allowed out in the wintertime, is fenced off from the closed yard. The main building was built in the 19th century and was extended in the early 19th century with a bake house. The low building with its smooth board cladding and six-pane windows is a good example of how the town looked at that time."Kirsti" was owned for two hundred years by the same family before it was acquired by the Museum in the 1970's. The ownership was passed on through the maternal line: in most cases it was sons-in-law who moved in to live in the house. This is why the names and the occupations of the owners have changed from time to time. The house was built by ships' masters who owned shares in the ships carrying cargoes of timber to Germany and Denmark. The later owners include seamen, workers, and craftsmen, for example a smith. On some occasions "Kirsti" has also been occupied by tenants. The privileges of the owners also included renting the town's fields. Farming was a profitable side business: at "Kirsti" cows were kept until the 1950's. Another additional source of income for the people of Rauma was lace making, and the women at "Kirsti" have been well known lace makers ever since the 18th century until today. At "Kirsti" the Museum presents the way of life of both house owner and tenant families in the 1900's.

THE POTTER'S SHOP The main products of the shop of the potter Gustaf Löfman were stove tiles. The brow-glazed tiles were made of red clay. In addition to smooth tiles,decorative tiles were made with moulds, these were used in the corners and the upper part of a heating stove. By-products were bowls which were turned on a potter's wheel. For of reasons of fire safety, potters' workshops had to be located outside the town and Löfman's workshop is a few hundred meters away from the old town. With its oven, furniture, and product samples the workshop survives in its original appearance even today. The potter's home, one room and a kitchen, adjoined the workshop. When the demand for stove tiles fell after heating stoves of sheet metal became fashionable, the workshop began to produce flower pots. As the space needed for production diminished, an additional room was built onto the living quarters. The Rauma Museum acquired the building from the Löfman family in the 1980's.
THE LOOKOUT TOWER The original lookout tower was located in the harbour, on a hill called Lonsonmäki, close to the present College of Seafaring. It was completed in 1892, at the peak of the sailing ship era of Rauma, and served in the communication between the harbour and the town, and the harbour and the ships at sea. It was still transmitting weather information in the 1940's. It was dismantled in 1956 as it was not longer needed. The present lookout tower on the Syvärauma gulf is an exact copy of its predecessor. It provides a view of some of the most beautiful part of the islands outside Rauma, and in addition, an interesting picture of the busy traffic in the small boat harbour.
RAUMA MUSEUM Postal address: Kauppakatu 24 26100 Rauma Tel. 02-8343 525 Fax: 02-8343 524 E-mail: rauman museo@kolumbus.fi Exhibition premises: Old Town Hall: seafaring, lace, town culture Kauppakatu 13 26100 Rauma Marela, the home of a shipowner Kauppakatu 24 26100 Rauma Kirsti, the house of a seaman Pohjankatu 3 26100 Rauma Open in the summer A potter's workshop and home Nummenkatu 12 26100 Rauma Open in the summer Kiikartorni lookout tower An exact copy of the lookout tower built in 1892 in the harbour. On the shore of Syväraumanlahti Open in the summer