The Finnish Folk Instrument Museum

The Finnish Folk Music Institute's museum of traditional instruments is situated in the Folk Arts Centre of Kaustinen. The museum's collections include over a thousand instruments belonging to the collections of the University of Tampere, The Finnish Folk Music Institute and the Folk Instrument Museum of Finland. A majority of the collections consist of traditional instruments from the last century.

The main exhibition "Kaustinen Fiddle Playing - A Living Heritage", presents the musical heritage of Kaustinen and its surrounding areas, which was inscribed on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at the end of 2021. In addition to exploring the objects, images and sounds, visitors to the exhibition will be guided through videos that allow them to experience the living tradition for themselves: playing Tutskov's polska on the violin, Halsua's waltz on the kantele, Maalari Frans's Schottische on the harmonium or dancing the Kaustinen flikuleeri. Children will also be able to explore the subject with the help of special tasks. The exhibition is in three languages (Finnish, Swedish and English).

The Museum Hall exhibition showcases the most famous Finnish player of traditional shepherds' woodwind instruments, Teppo (Teodor) Repo (1886-1962). Repo, born in Ingria, was a multi-instrumentalist who played and built the near extinct instruments of the Baltic Finnish peoples and also made his own compositions on them.

Most of the museum's instruments have been documented in the Finnish Folk Music Institute's The "Kansan ääni ja kuva" database.

Entry to the museum is free, and it's open during weekdays 10-16, for groups by appointment, and all day during Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. Contact the museum administrator and reserve a presentation, workshop or other folk music event suitable for your needs.