What to do and see in Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland: The Best Specialty Museums

The diverse and broad provincial museum of South Ostrobothnia has its centre located in the beautiful Törnävä museum area roughly three kilometres from the centre of Seinäjoki. The museum area is surrounded by the park area of the old Östermyra iron works, and the Seinäjoki river flows nearby. This area is a popular place for events and recreational activities.

Biggest collection of old tractors in Finland. The museum is private owned and there is about 150 tractors. Most of them are renovated and they are in "working-condition". The owner is 80-old Matti Jaskari. He has collected the tractors during 25 years from Finland. He is entrepreneur and nowadays you can meet him in museum because there is still a lot of working.

Kunsthalle Seinäjoki is a place for changing exhibitions in contemporary art and a venue for visual arts. The Kunsthalle is located at the Arts and Culture Centre Kalevan Navetta. Activities are maintained by the City of Seinäjoki. The Kunsthalle Seinäjoki offers contemporary art exhibitions by both local and international, especially Nordic artists and groups. A special interest in the program is the theme urban-rural and the various, contemporary topics in the countryside, locally and globally. The Kunsthalle also runs an active supplementary program with events, workshops and projects for all age groups. The house and spaces itself are remarkable: Kalevan Navetta was built as a cow shelter at the end of the 19th Century, but was never used as one. It served as textile factory, warehouse for the military and finally, in 2020, opened as the home for culture.

Since the 19th century Kauhava has been known for it´s traditional enterprises: the production of textiles and knives. In the Kauhava knife and textile museum you see knives not only from Kauhava but also from other regions in Finland. There is also a wide range of textiles arranged according to their age.

During the first world war almost 2000 finnish young men travelled to Germany to get military education. The Finnish Jaegermuseum tells about the impact they had in the fight for the finnish independence from the russian empire in 1917-1918. In the museum you see military equipment and the jaegers´ personal belongings.