Gold Museum switches to winter opening hours 1st October 2024
The Gold Museum has shifted to winter opening hours (1.10.2024-30.5.2025). We are open Mon-Fri from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is closed on weekends and public holidays.
Welcome to Gold Museum!
Museum Director
The employment of Museum Director Teresa Töntsi has ended on 31.10.2023. Hanna Mattila, the Head of Collections, takes the place of Interim Museum Director from 1.11.2023.
The museum will start the search process for a new museum director as soon as possible.
The Gold Museum will continue to operate as usual. The museum is open in the winter Mon-Fri 10-16, and is closed Sat-Sun and on public holidays.
For further information, please contact Viljo Pesonen, Chairman of the Board of the Kultamuseosäätiö, tel. 040 5264566
Winter parking
Gold Museum’s two parking lots are also open in winter. The smaller car park, more commonly known as the winter car park, is located next to the museum building and is clearly waymarked. Disabled parking is located next to the door of the museum, and is accessed by following the signs for the winter car park. 200 metres from the museum’s front door is the larger car park, which also serves the Urho Kekkonen National Park. From the larger park there is a marked route to the museum. In addition, you can access the museum from the direction of our neighbours the Gold Village and the Restaurant Wanha Waskoolimies.
Events of Anniversary Year
For fifty years, the Gold Museum has been telling the story of Lapland’s colourful gold history and later also of the international gold heritage.
Our changing exhibition “NUGGETS – Arctic Gold” will open on 28th March and will be on display at the museum until end of April 2024. The exhibition tells the story of the major and minor gold nuggets of Lapland’s gold history. In addition to the museum, the exhibition will also be on display at Ivalo Library in July 2023 and at Sodankylä Library in February 2024.
During the summer festival weeks, museum visitors will be able to learn about the fascinating gold history of Lapland through different stories. Half-hour guided tours will take place during the three event weeks (weeks 24, 29 and 30) from Monday to Friday at 14:00. During other weeks the guided tours will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays at 14:00 until end of August. The tours will last approximately 15-20 minutes and will focus on one or two gold themes. The tours are included in the entrance fee and can take up to 20 participants.
Welcome to join us on a journey through the events of the anniversary year!
Opening hours in the winter
The summer season has come to an end and the Gold Museum has entered the winter season along with the cooling weather. From October until the end of May, the Gold Museum is open from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On weekends the museum is closed, as well as on Mon 5th December, Tue 6th December and Mon 26th December, and in 2023 on Fri 6th January, Fri 7th April, Mon 10th April, Mon 1st May and Thu 18th May.
Other exceptional opening hours will be announced on our website and on our social media channels on Facebook and Instagram.
The Gold Story continues during summer time
The Gold Story is a 15-minute long museum tour that presents the colorful history of Lappish gold through different themes. These themes range from gold itself to legends, dreams, women and culture and covers as well law and order and examples from international gold history. The Gold Story will be held on weekdays (Mon-Fri) at 2.00 pm. until the end of August. The first tour will be on Monday 25th July 2022 and you can join without booking in advance. Please note that the group size will be limited to 20 people.
The Gold Story is included in the price of the museum ticket. Museum Card and Smartum are also valid. The language of the tour is Finnish, English or French, with limited use of Italian. Welcome!
Gold Museum Stands With Children of Ukraine
War in Ukraine has touched people around Europe and World, including us here in Gold Museum. The Ukrainian nation is suffering, especially the children. We want to participate in helping them.
During the next two weeks (28th Feb – 13th Mar 2022) 10% of our entrance fee income is directed via UNICEF to help children in Ukraine. We thank the Finnish Aviation Museum for this idea.