Fri 14 March 2025 Gold Museum is exceptionally closed
On Friday 14.3. Gold Museum is exceptionally closed due to staff training. The Gold Museum will be open during the same week Mon-Thu and the following week normally Mon-Fri 11-16.
Welcome to Gold Museum!
Winter holiday activities at Gold Museum
During the winter holiday weeks 17.-28.2.2025, the Gold Museum is buzzing! The weekly programme includes gold panning, guided tours and exciting activities for the whole family. The programmes are included in the price of the museum ticket, unless otherwise stated. Museum Card and Smartum are also accepted.
Winter holiday programmes at Gold Museum:
Mon 13.00: Veteran gold prospectors -film (7 min, in Finnish)
Shot in Tankavaara in the 1970s, this short film introduces the basics of gold prospecting in Finnish Lapland and presents the lifestyle of legendary gold miners. The film is a good intro to an independent museum visit and is suitable for all ages.
Tue 13.00: Gold panning lesson (30 min, in Finnish & English)
In this workshop for the whole family, you can try your hand at gold panning in the museum’s indoor pool, where the sandy bottom hides genuine Lapland treasures. Any gold you find is yours to keep! Price 12 EUR/person. Children over 5 years old can pan independently and the youngest ones with support of their parents. There is place for the first 20 participants.
Wed 13.00: Guided tour for children (25 min, in Finnish)
Gold, gold! The children’s tour will take you to the gold rushes of the 19th century in California, Australia, the Klondike and Lapland – not forgetting the exciting stories of gold discoveries! The tour is designed for school-age children, but younger and older listeners are also welcome. There is place for the first 20 participants.
Thu 13.00 Gold panning lesson (30 min, in Finnish & English)
In this workshop for the whole family, you can try your hand at gold panning in the museum’s indoor pool, where the sandy bottom hides genuine Lapland treasures. Any gold you find is yours to keep! Price 12 EUR/person. Children over 5 years old can pan independently and the youngest ones with support of their parents. There is place for the first 20 participants.
At any time, you can also pick up from the museum counter a Nugget Bingo activity sheet with fun activities for your tour at the museum. By returning a completed Nugget Bingo to the museum counter, you can win a small prize! The activity sheet is available in English and Finnish.
The programs do not require pre-registration or prior information.
Welcome to Gold Museum!
Gold Museum is open Mon–Fri 11–16 in spring 2025
Due to the strategy and development work of the Gold Museum, the museum will open to individual visitors at 11 am during the spring season. For groups who book in advance, the museum will open earlier if agreed. At the beginning of June, we will return to our usual summer opening hours.
A warm welcome to Gold Museum Mon-Fri 11–16!
Gold Museum is open
2.1.–31.5.2025 Mon-Fri 11–16
December 2024:
1.–20.12. Mon–Fri 10–16,
27.–31.12. Mon–Fri 10–16
The museum is closed 21–26 Dec, 1 Jan and 6 Jan.
Ongoing exhibitions:
Lapland’s gold history
Golden World
Miners and Mines – World War II and the Lappish Gold until 31 May 2025
📸 Heikki Sulander
Golden Christmas’ gold panning workshop 27th Dec 2024
How gold and Christmas are related? What exactly is gold? And how can you find gold in nature? These questions will be answered at the Gold Museum’s Christmas gold panning workshop on Fri 27.12.!
In this workshop, a guide will lead you through the thousands of years old gold panning technique. You’ll be able to try your hand at using a gold pan in the museum’s indoor pool, where the sandy bottom hides genuine Lapland treasures. Any Lapland gold flakes and gemstones you find can be kept as a golden souvenir!
The event will take place at 13.00 in Finnish and at 14.00 in English. The event starts in the lobby of the Gold Museum and the duration is about 30 min. Make sure to arrive on time, as there is place only for the first 20 participants (no pre-registration).
The fee for the workshop is a museum ticket + 12 EUR per person. Children over 5 years old can pan for gold independently and the youngest ones can participate with the support of their parents.
Welcome!
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!