More than 650,000 visits to Turku's Museums in 2025
Turku City Museum sites recorded a total of 325,951 visits. Turku Castle remained the city's most visited museum, attracting over 123,000 visitors, nearly 103,000 of whom were paying guests.
Turku’s museums enjoyed a lively year in 2025, welcoming more than 650,000 visits in total. Turku Castle retained its position as the city’s most popular museum. Turku Art Museum reached record visitor numbers, while Forum Marinum maintained its strong standing. The historic house museums Ett Hem and Casa Haartman set new attendance records. A major renewal of the permanent exhibition was completed at Aboa Vetus, and WAM’s contemporary art exhibitions at Kilta Gallery successfully found their audiences.
The City Museum’s highlights attracted a wide range of visitors
Turku City Museum sites recorded a total of 325,951 visits. Turku Castle remained the city’s most visited museum, attracting over 123,000 visitors, nearly 103,000 of whom were paying guests.
"The visitor figures for 2025 show that the City Museum’s sites resonate with a wide variety of audiences. In several museums, visitor numbers increased compared to the previous year. New content strengthened the museum’s role as an experiential and evolving cultural destination," says Ville-Matti Rautjoki, Director of Turku City Museum.
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The Pharmacy Museum recorded 25,617 visits, the Biological Museum 23,229, and 43,387 visitors visited Luostarinmäki. Kuralan Kylämäki’s museum buildings and recreational area were visited 110,132 times during the year. Altogether, 43,167 visits were made using the Museum Card at City Museum sites (Turku Castle 21,221; Luostarinmäki 8,644; Pharmacy Museum 8,723; Biological Museum 4,579).
In November, a new visitor experience titled Echoes and Shadows opened at Turku Castle. Running through the main castle, the exhibition tells stories from the castle’s history through the lives of people who once lived there.
WAM exhibitions at Kilta Gallery found their audience
The exhibition program and audience engagement of WAM - Turku City Art Museum continued successfully at Kilta Gallery in the House of Arts. The free-entry gallery welcomed a total of 21,730 visitors interested in contemporary art. Exhibitions by Heini Aho, Jussi Haro, Anu Halmesmaa, and Fanny Varjo were shown during 2025. Varjo’s exhibition Tasters, Knights and Gardeners runs until February 1, 2026. Two works from the exhibition — Knight 1 (Stumbling in the Knights’ Hall) and Knight 2 (At Attention) — were acquired for the City of Turku art collection, which grew by a total of 61 works during the year.
"WAM aims to be an open and vibrant meeting place, and this was strongly reflected in both our exhibitions and audience work over the past year. The excellent visitor numbers at WAM Kilta Gallery demonstrate the appeal of contemporary art. At the same time, our focus is already on the future: the renewed, fully accessible WAM will reopen on a larger and more ambitious scale in October 2026," says Satu Pajarre, Director of Turku City Art Museum.
The renovation and expansion of the WAM museum building progressed on schedule and within budget. The renewal will expand exhibition spaces, modernize technology, and make the premises fully accessible. Interior spaces are being restored to their original architecture, and basement areas previously used for storage will be reopened for exhibitions.
Record-breaking year for Turku Art Museum in the 2000s
In 2025, 85,712 exhibition and event visits were recorded at Turku Art Museum — the highest annual figure of the 21st century for the museum. Visitor numbers increased by more than 17% compared to the already successful previous year.
Museum Director Kari Immonen believes the result reflects the sustained interest in visual arts and the stabilization of visitor numbers at a higher level.
"I believe our high-quality and diverse exhibition program, pleasant environment, and skilled staff are key factors behind this record year. We are the most popular Museum Card destination in Southwest Finland, and active cardholders already account for more than half of all visits. Around one third of our visitors are first-timers, which is encouraging and shows that we have successfully attracted new audiences. The result is excellent, especially considering economic uncertainty and the moderation of the museum boom," Immonen states.
In 2025, the museum’s exhibitions ranged from classical painting to the latest photographic and video art. Three Perspectives on Landscape, which explored the early stages of plein air painting in Finland, was the most visited exhibition of the year, attracting over 33,000 visitors. Ink paintings by Gunnel Wåhlstrand, photographs by Nelli Palomäki, the What Colour? collection exhibition, and contemporary artists presented in Studio and In the Darkroom also drew large audiences. The year was exceptionally active in terms of loans, with works from the museum’s collection — including classic paintings by Pekka Halonen and Helene Schjerfbeck — representing Finnish visual art internationally.
Forum Marinum maintained a strong position
After the record-breaking year of 2024, visitor numbers at Forum Marinum returned to a stable level, with approximately 107,000 visitors in 2025. Cuts to public funding led to reductions in programming and opening hours, but the Sea Monsters exhibition strengthened interest among families. Around 24,800 visits were made using the Museum Card.
The museum ship Suomen Joutsen received positive attention for mast restoration work, which was presented to the public throughout the year. Plans are underway to improve preservation conditions for the ship Sigyn, with the goal of moving the vessel onto dry land in a new building within Forum Marinum’s maritime quarter. Forum Marinum’s importance for tourism and urban development in Turku is closely linked to the historical value of its museum ships and the role of sustainable cultural services.
"Forum Marinum’s museum ships are internationally significant in terms of their history and have enormous potential for Turku’s tourism. As Linnanniemi and the port area develop into flagship urban districts, it is crucial to recognize the role of sustainable cultural services in supporting the vitality of the new area," envisions Ulla Teräs, CEO of the Forum Marinum Foundation.
In 2025, several events were organized in cooperation, including MILjazz, Turku Sea Jazz, and Baltic Sea Day. A new family event, The Sea Comes to the City, attracted around 2,000 visitors. Overall, approximately 223,000 people participated in various services and events.
Renewed archaeological museum and Finnish contemporary art attracted visitors
In 2025, 95,863 museum visits were recorded at Aboa Vetus Ars Nova, divided almost evenly between its two parts: 46,926 visits to Aboa Vetus and 48,937 to Ars Nova. Paid visits totaled 87,181, more than half of which were made using the Museum Card.
The year was particularly significant for Aboa Vetus Ars Nova, as the foundation-run museum celebrated its 30th anniversary, marked by special programming such as concerts in the Rettig Palace garden.
A major renewal of Aboa Vetus’s permanent exhibition was completed, and the archaeological museum reopened to the public in April as a more cohesive and accessible experience. The renewed museum attracted large visitor numbers during the summer, alongside public guided tours and open archaeological lectures.
Ars Nova showcased a wide range of Finnish contemporary art, with nine exhibitions held during the year. Early exhibitions included Mikko Paakkola’s RED and Us and Them - Near and Far, combining works from the foundation’s collection and Turku-based artists. Spring exhibitions featured Grönlund-Nisunen’s States of Disturbance and Raisa Raekallio and Misha del Val’s Milieu. Summer highlights included Sari Soininen’s The Trees Are Not What They Seem and Anu Tuominen’s Neurosis in the Herbarium. In autumn, three exhibitions opened: Umppa Niinivaara’s The Cave, Matti Rag Paananen, and the collection exhibition Two Rooms. The latter three remain on view until March 22, 2026.
22,238 visits to Åbo Akademi Foundation museums
Åbo Akademi Foundation museums recorded 22,238 visits in 2025, including 6,750 free admissions.
"In many ways, 2025 was a successful year for the Åbo Akademi Foundation museums. Both Ett Hem and Casa Haartman once again achieved record visitor numbers, and Sibelius Museum attendance remained high, even if it did not quite reach the record levels of 2024. Digital accessibility was increased across all museums in line with our goals," says Teemu Kirjonen, Director of the Åbo Akademi Foundation museums.
Casa Haartman’s summer season set a new record with 1,951 visitors, including 382 free admissions. For the first time, the museum remained open during the first week of September, successfully attracting additional visitors.
Ett Hem welcomed a record 8,561 visitors, a 12% increase over its previous record year. Of these, 2,038 were free admissions. Guided tours were particularly popular and received positive feedback. A new digital display was introduced, presenting photographs and stories from the collection and the museum’s history.
The Sibelius Museum recorded 11,726 exhibition visitors in 2025, including 4,330 free admissions. Free entry applies, among others, to all visitors under the age of 18. Additionally, 2,842 people attended concerts in the Sibelius Museum’s concert series.