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Welcome to Luostarinmäki in 1827! Take a walk in a landscape lost in the Great Fire of 1827 and to the tides of time. Get to know a suburb of its time, Luostarinmäki’s history and Turku from 200 years ago.
Experience Luostarinmäki Klosterbacken 1827 on the website Digimuseo.fi. The panoramic views in 360 degrees can be seen in the browser on your smartphone, desktop computer or tablet. Concise info texts in pop up frames are available in English, Finnish and Swedish.
Luostarinmäki is the perfect destination for families: the houses and workshops tickle the imagination and take you on a time travel to days long gone. A visit to this outdoor museum is a day in one of Turku’s finest oases in the middle of the city. Welcome to stroll along the old alleys and streets of Turku!
Learn more listening to our audioguide
Listen to stories of Luostarinmäki based on the lives of historical people who once lived here. The stories are based on historical documents about these inhabitant.
Luostarinmäki Museum Quarters invites you to experience town life in bygone times and the history of Luostarinmäki. The museum offers lots to see for visitors of all ages.
The homes and workshops tell the stories of lives and work in Luostarinmäki and Turku in different times. We take on the perspective of inhabitants from different eras. In summer, you will meet craftsmen in the workshops and hosts in their daily chores.
In the summertime geranium and hot water plants grow on the windowsills in Luostarinmäki. In the flower beds you can find traditional Finnish perennial plants such as bleeding hearts, lychnis, columbine, common soapwort and various lilies.
You can still see remnants of the old rural self-sufficient lifestyle in the courtyards. There are useful plants still growing in the gardens such as potatoes, turnips, spices and herbs including horseradish and chives. You can also admire berry bushes and apple trees planted by former inhabitants on the museum grounds.
In 1827, after the Great Fire, architect C.L. Engel drafted a new city plan for Turku. The new city plan meant that the tightly packed houses of Luostarinmäki would be taken down, and in the beginning of the 1900s the city began to claim plots in the area. Some of the area’s oldest buildings were already making way for Sirkkalankatu street. At the same time, there was an ongoing debate on the value of Luostarinmäki as the embodiment of the pre-fire cityscape and life in Turku.
According to records, the very first residents of Luostarinmäki in the 1700s included a cobbler, sailors, plank carriers, packers and guards, along with their families. In the 1800s, many carpenters moved to the quarter. Their trade and skills enabled them to build their own house. Homeowners also built rooms for tenants to earn some extra income.
Luostarinmäki is the only continuous district of wooden houses that escaped the Great Fire of 1827 and has survived into our time. The houses, still standing in their original building sites, are more than 200 years old. Luostarinmäki used to be on the edge of town, where land was cheaper and more affordable to the craftsmen of lesser means who oftentimes moved here from the countryside. Many still upkept rural forms of life, resembling subsistence economy.
Visit Luostarinmäki Museum Shop next to the main gate. Here you will find unique gifts and souvenirs. The hand made products by the craftsmen working in the museum are also available here. Items range from traditional pottery to jewellery crafted by the silversmith.
The huckster’s is a mid-19th century style shop located in the museum area. Sweets wrapped in paper cones are a must!
Send a postcard from the museum’s post office. All mail will be stamped with a special post stamp.
Luostarinmäki is located on a stony slope on the south side of Vartiovuori Hill. Grounds are uneven and rough. There are steps leading to the interiors, and doorways are narrow. We ask wheelchair users to please visit the museum with a personal assistant if possible.
There are two disabled parking spots next to the museum gate.
Luostarinmäki is an outdoors museum neighbouring Vartiovuori Park near the centre of Turku. The museum consists of 14 houses with 80 interiors and five themed exhibitions.
The museum has a post office, where visitors may send postcards and letters all around the world. The museum shops have a large selection of handicrafts, books, sweets and high quality souvenirs.
Upon arrival, visitors will be provided with a map of the museum area.
Do you want to organize a street performance? Or book a place, for example, to sell handicrafts? Turku is offering a new way to use urban spaces by Event Carpets: specific areas marked on the pavement.
There are three bookable Event Carpet- spaces:
Multipass is just the right choice for you when you want to make the most of your visit to the Adventure Park. The 10-visit ticket offers discounted admission to the activity points and theatre performances in the park.
The Multipass is valid throughout the summer season, from 8 June to 3 August 2022, and it can be used by more than one person. You can buy the Multipass at the info point and in the Traffic Town. If you have a Kimmoke wristband, Multipass costs 20 euros. Remember to present your Kimmoke wristband when purchasing the Multipass.
The Adventure Park celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The anniversary year programme is rich and varied and all events are listed below. Check out the offerings and come for a visit.
Birthday party 8 June 2022
The birthday of the Adventure Park opens the summer season, offering a full day’s programme and surprises for the whole family.
Turku`s common Cultural Promise: A Time of Art and Culture! is a strategic and visionary outlook for the development of culture in Turku until 2029. The cultural promise serves as the basis for a Cultural spearhead project.
Today, cycling is as important a mode of travel in Turku as public transport. More than 90 % of Turku residents live less than a 30-minute bike ride from the Market Square. The importance on cycling will be further emphasized in the congested urban transport of the future. The ecology and health benefits of cycling area also a key motive for cycling.
The City of Turku encourages cycling by providing a wide range of services for cyclists.
Turku offers plenty of interesting and convenient cycling routes all year round for home-to-work travelers, hikers and tourist alike. In Turku, you can cycle both in urban areas and in environments close to the nature. Archipelago routes are also easily accessible.
Year-round cycling is encouraged by, among other things, the approximately 12-kilometer-long winter cycling route, which is in the center of Turku and in the Kupittaa area. Thanks to brush salting, the route is also safe in the winter.
Walking is one of the most important forms of travel in the urban area. Each of us is a walker at some point of our travels.
The advantage of walking is the calm pace and the opportunity to explore the surroundings while walking. Increasing the use of sustainable modes of transport such as walking, and cycling will also play an important role in achieving Turku`s climate goals.
The River Harbour Festival marks the start of a summer bursting with maritime events in Turku!
Admission to River Harbour Festival events is free of charge unless otherwise indicated. Changes to the programme are possible. Some events will only go ahead if the weather permits.
Friday 20 May
Maritime safety event
9:00–15:00
Varvintori Square
Between 10:00 and 15:00 on Sunday 22nd of May, the outdoor area of Forum Marinum Maritime Centre will be filled with joy and laughter as Captain Rubber Duck and his many friends organise fun things to do for children all day!
The activities will include making friends with alpacas, riding hobby horses and climbing rope ladders. The event will offer 27 stations with different activities from sports to crafts and quizzes. In addition, two stages will offer hilarious entertainment all day.
This year, the concerts at the River Harbour Festival event will aim to collect funds in support of Ukraine. In the Music for Ukraine at the River Harbour concerts, which will take place outside Forum Marinum Maritime Centre between 12:00 and 17:00 on Saturday 21 May, you can enjoy springlike music while giving a contribution to a good cause.
Admission to the open-air concert held in the outdoor area of Forum Marinum Maritime Centre (Linnankatu 72) will be free.
The two webcams placed in the Cathedral’s towers show the cityscape facing west and south from the building. Activate the live stream by clicking the picture below. You can change the camera and the angle by using the buttons in the picture. The delay in turning the camera can be tens of seconds, so please be patient.
Customers have wished for these courses in the social media as well as in Vimma art workshops.
All courses are aimed for 13–28 –year olds.
Summer 2022 courses
Ceramic Flower Pots
Fri 10.6.2022, 14-17
Price: 10 €
Make your own unique flower pots for summer flowers.
Melting glass on ceramics
Fri 17.6.2022, 14-17
Price: 10 €
