The Rantasalmi Museum

The Rantasalmi Museum is located in downtown Rantasalmi along the road between Savonlinna and Varkaus. Most of the buildings in the museum grounds — the main building, the drying barn, two storehouses and windmill plus the fisherman’s seine hut and sauna — were moved to their current location at the beginning of the 1960s. The museum was opened to the public in 1963. Currently, it is owned and run by the municipality of Rantasalmi.

The main building of the museum is the main building of the Konttila Farm that was donated by Maila and Pentti Taskinen at the beginning of the 1960s. It is said that the oldest parts of the building are more than 200 years old. Originally, the house was a chimneyless hut, a stove was added at the beginning of the 1900s. The building has a typical farmhouse kitchen and bedroom. In addition, the exhibition talks about cottage industry in Rantasalmi, the work cobblers do and the local speciality, a Rantasalmi pipe for smoking tobacco.

The row of storehouses contains artefacts related to processing grain, flower and flax. The second storehouse has been decorated as it would look like if it were an outbuilding where young people slept.

In addition, the area has a monument to writer and poet Alpo Noponen, who is renowned for his Finnish Christmas carols. The services of downtown Rantasalmi are near the museum.