Bunker Museum
Indoor exhibition
The museum's main exhibition presents the fortification of the eastern land border at Virolahti in 1940-41 and 1944. The museum is part of a wartime defense line: the almost 1200 km long Salpalinja starts on the coast of the Gulf of Finland in Virolahti and stretches all the way to the Arctic Ocean. The defence line can rightly be called the largest construction site in Finland, as up to 35 000 civilian builders and 2 000 lottas worked there in addition to the military personnel.
The basic exhibition, which has been renewed in spring 2020, brings the Salpalinja defense line to the visitor as an experience for all the senses. In the exhibition halls, visitors can walk along a stretch of the twilight compound trench, explore old military items and peer inside the barracks. The visuals in the exhibition take you through the various stages of the construction of the defense line and highlight the builders at work. The different parts of the line of defences, such as the various tombs, barriers and casemates, are comprehensively presented in the exhibition.
Outdoor museum area
The route of the outdoor museum is over a kilometre long and is marked in the landscape with orange markers. The fortifications along the route have been restored and equipped for museum use. You can walk the route independently or take a guided tour, included in the entrance fee, starting from the café. The outdoor museumThe outdoor museum area includes:
Several rigid reinforced concrete bunkers
Several heavy steel bunkers with moulding equipment
A wooden field bunker
Refurbished battle and compound trenches
Armoured roadway
PST gun emplacement and cannon
Cannon yard displaying different types of cannon
The outdoor museum area is set in a varied wooded landscape with paths for easy access. Visitors are advised to bring weatherproof clothing and footwear sturdy enough for walking on the forest trails.
Free admission for veterans, personal assistants, 9th graders with a Culture Pass, press card, Virolahti kindergarten and school children as a group, teachers with a school group, bus drivers of groups and tour guides of groups with more than 20 people.
For museum visits outside normal opening hours, we charge an additional 35 €/guided tour to the normal ticket price.
We have made every effort to make the public areas accessible. The museum building's exhibition and café are wheelchair-accessible. The café has a toilet for disabled people. The entrance to the museum is accessible by car. In the outdoor museum area, access is facilitated by paved and gravel paths. Some parts of the museum require stairs to access. Some of the outdoor areas are also accessible by wheelchair.
