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Established | 12 May 1945 in Koria, Finland |
---|---|
Dissolved | 2012National Signals Museum and The Artillery Museum of Finland to form Museo Militaria | ; merged with the
Location | 1945–2004: Koria 2007–2012: Miehikkälä 2012–present: Hämeenlinna |
Coordinates | 61°00′18.1″N24°27′26.0″E / 61.005028°N 24.457222°E |
Type | Science museum |
Visitors | From 1,800 to 2,200 annually |
Director | Lieutenant colonel, retired, Jaakko Martikainen |
The Engineers Museum[ citation needed ] (also known as the Engineer Museum, [1] the Pioneer Museum [2] or the Sapper Museum; [3] Finnish : Valtakunnallinen Pioneerimuseo, [4] lit. 'National Pioneer Museum') was a military engineering museum in Finland. It was the oldest corps museum in Finland. It was opened on 13 May 1945 in the garrison of Koria, which was the part of Elimäki municipality, now Kouvola town. The Engineers Museum had the status of the scientific military museum and it was supervised by the Military Museum of Finland (Finnish : Sotamuseo). The Engineers Museum was re-opened in Miehikkälä in 2007. [5] In 2012, the Engineers Museum merged with the National Signals Museum and The Artillery Museum of Finland to form Museo Militaria in Hämeenlinna. [6]
There are two other attractions related to the Engineer corps of Finland: the Salpa Line Museum in Miehikkälä and the Bunker Museum in Virolahti.
The history of the museum started in 1929, when second lieutenant Eero-Eetu Saarinen made a proposal to the commander of the engineer battalion, concerning an engineer corps museum. The engineer troops started to collect materials for the museum, but the collection was lost during the Winter War.
On 12 May 1945, lieutenant colonel Eero-Eetu Saarinen delivered an opening speech of the museum. The museum was located in the barracks until 1965, when the municipality of Elimäki donated a log house to the museum, so it could become enlarged.
By the beginning of the 1970s, it became obvious that a new building would be needed. In the Koria garrison area, which was the main base of the Engineers corps, a new main building was built and opened by lieutenant colonel Eero-Eetu Saarinen on 25 July 1974 in Kivimäki of Koria. The next year, in 1975, the Pioneeriaselajin Liitto ry, was established to govern the museum.
The other building was built and opened in 1976. The construction site manager and inspector was military technician Arvo Tolmunen. [7] The corps museum was granted an officials status as an official war historical museum by the minister of defence, Veikko Pihlajamäki, on 24 March 1987.
When the Kymi Engineer Battalion was moved from Koria to the Vekaranjärvi garrison of the Karelia Brigade, the museum in Koria was closed and the exhibits were packed and delivered to other locations. Most of the exhibits ended up to Kouvola and were burned also a kind of vandalism destroyed the materials.
Kouvola municipality had planned to support the museum, but the idea did not survive, so that the registered Union of the Engineers Corps. [7] Until the beginning of the 2000s, a new plan was made in cooperation with Miehikkälä municipality. In 2003, a project for opening the museum was started with the financial help of the European Union structural funds. The general headquarters did not take the museum to the category of the further developed museums on 4 March 2004, but it was added to the list on 18 May 2005.
In 2012, the Engineers Museum merged with the National Signals Museum and The Artillery Museum of Finland to form Museo Militaria in Hämeenlinna. [6]
The museum had a relatively small number of visitors due to the distant location. In the same region there are two other museums related to the military engineering: the Salpa Line Museum and the Bunker Museum (Bunkkerimuseo).
In the main exhibition there were about 500 exhibits. Specialities in the main building were models of the Kiviniemi, Vuoksi and Syvärinniska field bridges. On the other half of the main building there was Pitäjämuseo, a local rural museum that presented the past agrarian life from the point of view of the household woodware.
There have been at least six bridges over the Vuoksi river in Sakkola. The first known bridge was a wooden bridge in the 1800s, which was replaced by a stone bridge in 1827. The Vuoksi river was enlargened and the flow eroded the soil structures of the stone bridge, so that it had to be break down. Nordestam senate in 1870 authorised rebuilding, which was started in 1878, but the works ended during the first phases of the construction works.
According to the next plan the new bridge was to be built, in the new place, onto the narrowest part of the Kiviniemi falls area, 300 metres (980 ft) further from the place, where the bridge had been two times. The new length of the bridge would be 74.8 metres (245 ft). The construction works started in winter 1876 and the bridge was opened for the traffic in 1878. The budget of the construction works reached 139,000 Finnish marks.
During the Winter War, the Finns blew up the bridge. The Soviets built another bridge from steel after the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940 in the inter-war period. Before the advancing Finnish troops reached the bridge, the Soviet troops blew up the bridge in the beginning of the Continuation War in 1941. The Finns built a railway bridge from steel, which was destroyed in 1944. Now there is a Soviet made bridge made of steel crossing Vuoksi. [8]
There was a Sturmgeschütz III Ausf. G on the frontyard of the museum. On the backyard there were several aluminic assault boats, KrAZ lorry with and without a pontoon bridge equipment. The heaviest vehicle was a T-72 main battle tank with a mine plough.
There were about 3,700 collectibles in the museum.
The Salpa Centre (Salpakeskus), which was established on 7 July 2005, is a voluntary consortium of four participating communities: The Engineers Museum (governed by the Union of the Engineer Corps), the Salpa (Defence) Line Museum, both in Miehikkälä, the Salpa Line Tradition Association (Salpalinjan perinneyhdistys ry) and the Bunker Museum in Virolahti.
The parties have been cooperation in developing the Bunker Museum, Engineers Museum and Salpa Line Museum with the support of the European Union structural funds for less than a decade.
On the Salpa defence line there will be organised annually a hiking tour. [9] The 19th Salpa trekking was to take place in 2012 from 29 June to 1 July. [10] The Salpa defence line is in some parts relatively good condition as it was never needed due to the truce of 5 September 1944 and the Moscow Armistice on 19 September 1944, which ended the co-belligerence of Finland with the Greater German Realm and made the Lapland War inevitable.
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan; the passenger terminal at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.; the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport; and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. He was the son of Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen.
Southern Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia.
Hämeenlinna is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Kanta-Häme. It is located in the southern interior of the country and on the shores of Lake Vanajavesi. The population of Hämeenlinna is approximately 68,000, while the sub-region has a population of approximately 94,000. It is the 15th most populous municipality in Finland, and the 14th most populous urban area in the country.
Kotka is a town in Finland, located on the southeastern coast of the country at the mouth of the Kymi River. The population of Kotka is approximately 50,000, while the sub-region has a population of approximately 79,000. It is the 21st most populous municipality in Finland, and the 16th most populous urban area in the country.
Kouvola is a city in Finland and the administrative capital of Kymenlaakso. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country. The population of Kouvola is approximately 79,000. It is the 11th most populous municipality in Finland, and the 17th most populous urban area in the country.
The Mannerheim Line was a defensive fortification line on the Karelian Isthmus built by Finland against the Soviet Union. While this was never an officially designated name, during the Winter War it became known as the Mannerheim Line, after Finnish Army's then commander-in-chief Field Marshal Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. The line was constructed in two phases: 1920–1924 and 1932–1939. By November 1939, when the Winter War began, the line was by no means complete.
The Salpa Line, or its official name, Suomen Salpa, is a bunker line on the eastern border of Finland. It was built in 1940–1941 during the Interim Peace between the Winter War and the Continuation War and further in 1944 to defend Finland against a possible Soviet invasion.
Häme Castle or Tavastia Castle is a medieval castle in Tavastia Proper, Finland. It is located in Hämeenlinna, the city between Helsinki and Tampere. Originally located on an island, the castle now sits on the coast of lake Vanajavesi. The castle consists of a central keep and surrounding curtain walls, enclosed by a moat. The keep originally had five turrets, but only two are apparent today. The curtain wall has a gatehouse, battlements, an octagonal brick corner turret, and a round gun turret. The lower tiers of the keep and curtain wall are of masoned granite and the upper tiers are red brickwork.
Karelia Brigade is one of the three Finnish Army readiness brigades. It is currently based at Valkeala. With some three thousand soldiers it is the second largest brigade in Finland. It is the only Finnish brigade providing training in all Army branches and houses the Finnish Defence Forces Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence. As of 2023, its commander is brigadier general Jyri Raitasalo.
The Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive or Karelian offensive was a strategic operation by the Soviet Leningrad and Karelian Fronts against Finland on the Karelian Isthmus and East Karelia fronts of the Continuation War, on the Eastern Front of World War II. The Soviet forces captured East Karelia and Vyborg/Viipuri. After that, however, the fighting reached a stalemate.
The Lahti railway station is located in the city of Lahti in Finland.
Viipuri Province was a historical province of Finland from 1812 to 1945.
The history of rail transport in Finland began on January 31, 1862, with the opening of the railway line between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. By 1900 most of the future main lines had been constructed, including the line to St. Petersburg. By the time of the birth of the new Finnish Republic in 1917 lines connected all major cities, major ports, and reached as far as the Swedish border, and inner Finland as far north as Kontiomäki in Paltamo region, as well as eastwards into Karelia.
The Artillery Museum of Finland is a special military museum dedicated to the history of the artillery from the 15th century to the present day. It was located in Niinisalo from 1977 to 1997. In 1997 it was relocated to Hämeenlinna.
James Hirvisaari is a Finnish politician. He was elected to the Finnish Parliament in the 2011 general election held on 17 April on the electoral list of the Finns Party, but since 2013 he has represented Change 2011.
The Salpa Line Museum was established and opened in 1987 by the municipality of Miehikkälä and by World War II veteran organisations. It is the first museum established in Miehikkälä. The other museums are the Miehikkälän kotiseutumuseo and the Miehikkälä local arts and crafts museum, which was established in 1989 and is located in the same building as the Engineers Museum.
The Herrala railway station is located in Hollola, Finland, in the village and urban area of Herrala. It is located along the Riihimäki–Lahti line, and its neighboring stations are Järvelä in the west and Lahti in the east.
The Kouvola–Kotka railway, also called the Kotka railway is a 1,524 mm railway in Finland, connecting the towns of Kouvola and Kotka in the region of Kymenlaakso.
VR commuter rail is a Finnish commuter rail system operated by VR – the national railway operator of Finland – under a public service obligation agreement with the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Finland. The operations are planned in trilateral co-operation between the ministry, the operator and various regional transport authorities.