Vandals smash 37 historic windows at Lapua heritage museum

Staff at the Ränkimäki Museum in Lapua, western Finland, are manually collecting glass shards after vandals destroyed 37 historic window panes and littered the grounds in late April, Yle reports.

The damage is extensive, with broken glass scattered both inside and outside the 19th-century wooden buildings. Museum volunteers have combed the area by hand to ensure safety, particularly ahead of traditional children’s games scheduled for July. “We crawled around the museum bare-handed, patting the grass to pick up even the smallest shards,” said Johanna Ikola, chair of the Lapua Society, which maintains the site.

Repairs will be lengthy and costly, as the conservation of old glass requires specialised craftsmanship. While replacement glass is available, the process demands precise materials, skilled labour, and time. The financial losses run into thousands of euros, though no irreplaceable artefacts beyond the windows were damaged.

The Ränkimäki Museum, a complex of 14 log buildings from the 1800s, is one of the most representative enclosed farmyards in the Häme region. Police are investigating the vandalism as criminal damage, though no suspects have been identified. Museum staff have increased surveillance, including night patrols, after repeat incidents.

Despite the ongoing repairs, the museum’s summer events will proceed as planned, beginning next week. Ikola emphasised the site’s importance to locals: “The madness is that this is our shared heritage, and someone has chosen to destroy it.”