A short time ago we talked to you about the moomins, the famous characters created by the writer Tove Jansson in 1945. This time we are going to visit the Moomin Museum that is located in the city of Tampere.
Contenidos
The moomins and Tove Jansson
The moomins are a family of white trolls that live in Moominvalley and embark on different adventures told in different novels, comics and comics. These characters were created by Tove Jansson, one of the most important writers and artists in the history of Finland, in 1945, the year in which she published her first novel.
Moomins are one of the best-known Finnish symbols in the world. Thus, Jansson’s novels have been translated into a large number of languages and, besides, the adventures of the troll’s family have been taken to other formats, such as cinema, television and theatre.
The affection for these characters is so great that every year Finland receives a large number of tourists who come to the Nordic country to visit the theme park located in the city of Naantali and the museum located in Tampere.
How to get to the Moomin Museum
The museum is located inside the Tampere-talo, the auditorium of the city of Tampere which is also the largest concert and conference centre in the Nordic countries. The exact address of the building is Yliopistonkatu 55, a street near the city centre, so you won’t have any trouble finding it.
If you want to get to the city of Tampere from Helsinki or any other Finnish city, the fastest and most comfortable means of transport is the train, which will leave you, in less than an hour and a half, in the heart of the city and you will only have to walk for about 5 minutes until you find the museum.
What you will find in the museum
The museum has a complete collection of original moomins’ art donated by Tove Jansson herself in 1986 to the Tampere Art Museum, where the collection was exhibited until 2016 when it was moved to its current home.
The museum’s permanent exhibition called “What Happens Next?” takes visitors on a journey into the magical world of characters created by Jansson. You will be able to know the complete history of the moomins, from the first book published in 1945 to the last story of 1970, through texts and images, some of them, as we have already said, completely original.
The museum also has a collection of three-dimensional paintings by the artist Tuulikki Pietilä that are combined with illustrations of Tove’s moomins. At the centre of the exhibition, how could it be otherwise, is the Moominhouse, the warm home of the family of trolls to which they return after each of their adventures. This is therefore the heart and the centrepiece of the exhibition.
The exhibition also does not forget the television series that brought the moomins to world fame. Thus, in the museum, you can see episodes of this television program, as well as other audiovisual content that also featured these characters. The exhibit shows how these works were produced and includes script excerpts, character sketches, clay figures, hand-drawn storyboards, digital mockups, and cardboard models.
The Moomin Museum Reading Room
Next to the museum is the reading room, where you will find books about the characters in 30 different languages as well as other literary works by and about Tove Jansson. There, you can sit in one of the designated areas and spend as much time as you want reading the books by the Finnish author.
It is important to note that the room is located outside the museum and, unlike this one, admission is free, so you can access it at any time, as long as the Tampere-talo is open. Although the books cannot be removed from the venue, the auditorium has a store where you can buy much of Jansson’s work and other products with the image of the moomins.
Finally, in the museum, you will find a studio that offers a workspace where visitors can unleash their creativity in free sessions and daily guided workshops, in which they do everything from crafts to community projects.
Are you going to visit the museum? Tell us in the comments and, if the article has helped you, we encourage you to share it on social networks using the icons that you will find just below.
Cover image: © Jari Kuusenaho / Tampereen taidemuseo