The best museums Åland

The local customs and traditions are honoured with eight different themes: fishing and hunting, agriculture, the Viking origins, daily life, navigation, the city, wars and the autonomy of the islands of Åland. A comprehensive museum which allows you to understand the history of the islands and lifestyle of its inhabitants.

The impressive ruins by the width of its red granite stones of a vast fortress built by the Russians between Finby and Prästö. The French and English destroyed it during the Crimean War in 1854. A possible opportunity for a 13 km walk between Bomarsund and Kastelholm Castle. Count 4 hours of walking on a well signposted route. Opposite, on the island of Prästo, is the small museum of Bomarsund where the results of the excavations are housed.

Recently renovated and adjacent to the local history museum, the art museum brings together works from the 20th and 21st centuries with temporary exhibitions. The Åland Islands have always attracted artists and some famous painters have made the Åland Islands their home, including some beautiful paintings by Joël Pettersson (1892-1937), Victor Westerholm and Guy Frisk. The museum of local history allows you to discover the history of the islands.

This fully renovated museum traces Åland's maritime history. Beautiful figureheads and model ships. Visit the magnificent sailing ship Pommern, a superb four-master with 29 sails. Built in Scotland by a German company, she first sailed in 1903. She was purchased in 1923 by Gustaf Erikson in Mariehamn. During the Second World War, the yacht sailed between England and Australia before returning here. One of the largest sailing ships in the world, it is now moored in the West Harbour and converted into a museum.

In the summer of 1886, the Finnish painter Victor Westerholm (1860-1919) invited artist friends to his house on the Åland Islands. This was the beginning of the "Önningeby Colony", which lasted 30 years. The artists moved to surrounding farms where the omnipresence of nature inspired them. The museum retraces this adventure: lifestyle and works. Contemporary art exhibitions, poetry evenings and music concerts. Café and shop.