A fire closed the museum in Kokkola for four years - when the doors reopened, almost a year’s worth of visitors filled up in a couple of months

Collections of the Nature Museum Kiep — The Kieppi Nature Museum in Kokkola officially reopened on Wednesday. The fire damage has been repaired and the exhibits have been put back in their display cases.

The popular school visits to the Natural History Museum will be in full swing from the beginning of next year.

The natural history museum destroyed by fire has got off to a flying start in Kokkola.

The museum, a landmark of the city, was almost completely destroyed by fire in January 2019.

The museum, known as the Kiepp, got a fresh start this summer when it reopened. At the same time, public interest was greater than ever: the museum, which had been closed for four years, experienced a surge in visitors.

Äldre hus med tillbyggnad. — The outside of the gable looks almost exactly the same as it did before the fire. The old logs have been reused.

In two months, the museum attracted 5,000 visitors, which is almost a year’s worth of visitors. Before the fire that destroyed the museum, the annual number of visitors was 7,000 people.

– The opening of the doors was marketed very little: an announcement was placed on the company’s website and Facebook. In that rush, the focus was only on customer service. Fortunately, we got good student interns as summer assistants.

A large part of the visitors were tourists from, for example, the capital region and the Oulu region, but there were also people from central Pohlia in the audience.

Workshop up and running

The most massive job has been building the exhibitions, i.e. placing thousands of samples in showcases.

During the renovation of the old museum building, the collections of more than 25,000 specimens have been waiting to be moved in the warehouse.

The contract is now over and the official opening was celebrated on Wednesday. Kieppi opened to the public already in July.

The workshop exhibition features accessories and materials that Salkio has needed to fill the animals. The samples of the mineral collection have also been displayed in a display case.

School guidance will start properly at the beginning of next year.

The main part of all collections is now on display.

The collections of Luontomuseo Kiep, where a woman looks at a display case — Museum educator Mari Mäenpää presents the Kiep stone collection. The public’s interest in the reopened museum has surprised the staff.

In addition, Kieppi offers a twice-a-year changing exhibition with its own theme. In the spring, there will be an owl exhibition and workshop.

Kiep’s story is dramatic

– Both interest visitors, says Kurth.

Kieppi is not a traditional tourist destination but functions as a multi-generational experience among families with children and groups

– In Kiepi, the currently thin relationship with nature can be nurtured through exhibits and own stories. Rebuilding the museum is also a story with drama and attraction, says Kurth.

This is what it looked like on the night of the fire in January 2019.