Siilinjärvi weighs closing its historic psychiatric hospital museum

Siilinjärvi is considering closing the Harjamäki hospital museum, which preserves the history of a former psychiatric hospital in its original rooms. The closure would save an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 euros a year, Yle reports.

The hospital opened in 1926 and had about 1,000 patients and 600 employees at its peak around the turn of the 1960s and 1970s. Its last patients left in 1997, when the hospital closed. The museum displays the history of the institution and the development of psychiatric treatment, including a preserved isolation room and electroshock equipment.

The former hospital buildings have been renovated for business use, while the museum remains on the second floor of one building in rooms kept in their original condition.

The municipality initially estimated that closing the museum would save about 30,000 euros annually in rent and staff costs. But the Finnish Heritage Agency says the collection must be kept in suitable premises, and documenting and storing it would also cost money. Youth and cultural services director Tuula Pärnänen estimates the eventual annual saving would be 15,000 to 20,000 euros.

Siilinjärvi’s education committee decided in mid-September not to close the museum, but the municipal executive returned the issue to the committee. If it wants to keep the museum, it must find savings elsewhere or increase its income. The municipality is looking at improving marketing and seeking possible development funding from the Finnish Heritage Agency. Committee deputy chair Seppo Kiiski has suggested introducing small charges at some sports facilities.

Petra Havu, chief executive of the Finnish Museums Association, says the museum is significant because Finland lacks a national museum dedicated to the history of health and medical care. A project is under way to establish a museum and science centre covering that history and its future, she says. Havu warns that losing the collections and knowledge held by smaller hospital museums before such a centre is established would be a major loss.

Other hospital museums in Finland include the Kellokoski hospital museum in Tuusula. The Moisio hospital museum in Mikkeli closed to visitors several years ago and now operates only online, while the Pitkäniemi hospital museum in Tampere is also no longer open to the public.