Publications, exhibitions and collection

Publications

We publish popular non-fiction books related to maritime cultural heritage. We have published 55 books on the significance of the sea since the Foundation was established.

We published three books in 2025

• Vesi vanhin voitehista.
  Water-related sayings, contemporary art and contemporary artists’ interpretations of these sayings. In collaboration with the Finnish Freshwater Foundation.
• Rantojen hiljaiset – Strändernas tysta liv.
  Land uplift is a phenomenon that changes the landscape, shaping the trees and vegetation along shorelines. Raimo Sundelin and Janne Lampolahti.
• Horisonttiin soutajat – puuveneen elämä ja perintö.
  The origins and history of the traditional wooden boat, and its importance in archipelago culture. Andréa Vannucchi, Vesa Purokuru and Keanne van de Kreeke.

Our books are available at well-stocked bookstores and in our online store.

Exhibitions

We organized exhibitions about the sea’s cultural significance and ecology with the aim of showcasing the Baltic Sea’s cultural heritage and strengthening people’s relationship with the sea through art and science.

In 2025

• The “Cellar of the Sea” exhibition at Suomenlinna Museum showcased the ecosystems, history and cultural heritage of the Baltic Sea. 43,000 people visited the exhibition.
• We organised a travelling exhibition based on the book Rantojen hiljaiset. It toured venues such as Rauma Maritime Museum, Hanko Art Gallery, the Helsinki Book Fair, Viking Grace, and Ferry Terminal Turku. More than 60,000 people visited the exhibition.
• “Seafarer’s Charts” is a virtual exhibition based on the atlases that we digitalised. We also continued to host two virtual exhibitions via the Digital Museum service: “Baltic Heritage” and “The Fog of War”.
• We created online content based on the book Vesi vanhin voitehista, which is targeted at young people via schools.

Our partners included
Suomenlinna’s administrative board, the Ehrensvärd Society, the City of Hanko, Rauma Maritime Museum, Viking Line, Userix, Indevit, and Reveel.

Collection

We maintain and preserve our unique collection of 2,000 items, which include old maps and charts, maritime art and maritime antiques.

In 2025

• We made two significant acquisitions for our collection: Gustav Klint’s nautical chart collection of 1815, and a collection of 27 ship paintings curated by Juha Nurminen.
• We digitalised the atlases in our map collection, and tested an AI-powered exhibition curation tool.

Our partners include:
Userix Oy, Indevit.