The Museum is a prominent sight in a beautiful riverside setting. The highlight of the yard is the main building of the former village of Riesto, saved before the Lokka reservoir was created.
At the Museum, you can encounter a piece of the Lapland that has vanished.
For summer visitors to Sodankylä, the Museum is one of the best places to see. The Museum is a short walk from the town center in a beautiful setting at the confluence of two large rivers, the Kitinen and the Jeesiöjoki. There is a large car park outside the gate for motorists.
The Museum is open in the summer and entry is free. The staff on site will be happy to show you the Museum and its collection. A tour of the Museum will give you a good understanding of the old home, village and working culture of the Sodankylä area.
The Museum area is only accessible when the Museum is open. You can find more information about the opening hours and events of the Local Heritage Museum here on the Local Heritage Museum’s Facebook page.
The yard contains several old buildings in good condition which have been brought to the Museum from all over Sodankylä. The main building is the Kuukkeli house, built in 1906 and from the village of Riesto, which was covered by the Lokka reservoir. It was moved from there to the Museum by joint local efforts in the 1960s before the reservoir was created.
A yard area that was typical of the time has been constructed around the main building, which includes a warehouse, a smoke sauna and lean-to, a livestock shed, the granaries of the Penjus and Erkkilä families, a threshing cabin and barns. In addition, several other buildings connected to traditional occupations in Sodankylä have been transported to the Museum, such as a smithy, a Saami house, a calving shed, granaries and the central part of a reindeer fence, the “churn”.
The buildings display a large number of objects from old Lapland.
