Welcome!
The Finnish Glass Museum is a museum with national responsibility focusing on glass design and the history of glass. The museum has operated since 1981 in a renovated glassworks in Riihimäki and has impressive 1,700 square metres of exhibition space. The alterations of the building and the museum's permanent exhibition were planned and designed by Tapio Wirkkala, a legendary name in Finnish design and a member of the Academy of Finland.
The Finnish Glass Museum presents the history of glass dating back over 4,000 years and the 300-year history of Finland's glass industry. The collections consist mostly of Finnish household, design and art glass from the 18th-21th centuries.
The collections of the Finnish Glass Museum contain Finnish glass from the early days of the country's glass industry to modern-day industrial production and design. The most representative parts of the collections are on show to the public in the permanent exhibition on the ground and upper floors of the museum building. The Finnish Glass Museum has about 40 000 objects in its collection. The number of photos, slides, and drawings are about 51 000.
The Finnish Glass Museum also hosts a library containing glass-related literature and a small archive.
The part of collections the Finnish Glass Museum has added to Finna currently include photographs of older glassworks in Finland. Finland has a long history of glassworks, the first one dating back to 1681. Most of the pictures are from late 1800's to mid 1900's and offer interesting information from the history of glassworks and workers but also local history. Photographs are actively added to Finna.
How can you use our materials?
Terms of use for photographs
The photographs and pictures of Finnish Glass Museum in Finna are under the licence CC BY-NC, which allows allows the photograph to be copied, presented and modified for non-commercial use as long as the photographer and organization are acknowledged (photographer / The Finnish Glass Museum). The photographs in Finna are generally not high quality enough to be printed. If you want a photograph for print or commercial use, please contact the museum.
Materials
Search for materials
Click the button to see all the materials the Finnish Glass Museum has added to Finna.
For researchers
Are our other materials useful for your research? You can book a visit to our library or view our photograph collections and archive material by contacting the museum. We gladly provide information about the subject and help advancing the research of the field.
Useful links
The Finnish Glass Museum has collected a list of useful links related to the field. The list can be found from the Glass Museum's official website and you can access it by pressing the button below.
Contact information
Library, photograph collection and archive:
Helena Lahti, +358 50 500 1953
Artefact collections:
Elina Karila, +358 40 330 4101
E-mails are in form of firstname.lastname@riihimaki.fi
For visitors
Virtual tour
You can now explore the Finnish Glass Museum virtually!
In our virtual tour, you can explore in 3D not only the museum collection but also the building, a former factory of Riihimäki Glassworks later transformed into a museum.
You can also explore some of the museum’s current and past changing exhibitions that currently serve as touring exhibitions.