Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Sunday 08.06.2025

Museums

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You can read the news simultaneously below.

Finns now visit museums a lot. People are particularly interested in visual arts.

One reason for the increase in visitor numbers is the museum card, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in May.

Now we will tell you more about it.

The number of museum visits is increasing

![Atheneum art museum](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_2363,w_4200,x_0,y_217/ar_1.7777777777777 777,c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1577793120/39-6270935e0b363866961)

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The Ateneum Art Museum in central Helsinki set a new visitor record for the second year in a row. Photo: Jyrki Lyytikkä / Yle

The popularity of museums has grown to record levels in recent years. The Finnish National Board of Antiquities reports that the number of museum visits has increased by 55 percent in 10 years.

The visitor record was set last year. In 2023, Finns visited museums a total of over 8.7 million times.

Last year was also good, with over 8.4 million museum visits.

Ateneum is the most popular museum

A young man and woman look at a sculpture.

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Aleksi Parkkola and Sofia Ruusunen visited the Gothic Modern exhibition at the Ateneum. Photo: Mikko Koski / Yle

The most popular museum last year was the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki. Almost 600,000 people visited it. That is a record for the Ateneum.

Last spring, Eero Järnefelt’s nature and portraits were on display at the Ateneum. In the autumn, the Gothic Modern exhibition opened, with skulls and skeletons of particular interest to young audiences.

Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff, director of the Ateneum Art Museum, says that people are no longer satisfied with viewing images on their phone or computer screens. People want to come to the exhibition and experience it for themselves.

Popular museums last year also included the Helsinki City Museum and the Vapriikki Museum Center in Tampere.

Museum card brings visitors

The museum card is shown to the reader.

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Approximately 350,000 Finns have a museum card. Photo: Antti Haanpää / Yle

One reason for the growing popularity of museums is the museum card.

The museum card is an admission ticket to hundreds of different museums and events across the country. The card is valid for one year at a time.

The museum card first went on sale in May 2015. Since then, it has been used to make over 13 million museum visits.

The card has changed the way Finns visit museums. Now it is easier to go to the museum when the ticket has already been paid for.

Repetition

This week’s news topic was museums. Let’s recap the most important things.

Finns visited museums a total of over 8.4 million times last year.

The Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki had the most visitors, with almost 600,000 visitors.

The museum card just turned 10. It has increased the number of museum visits by Finns.

This was Uutisviikko in plain Finnish, see you again next week!