The Siida Building of the Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre is being extended and will get new collections facilities and a new restaurant wing. Construction started with excavation work in May 2020. Last week a digger revealed bones in a heat pipe pit at the building site. The bones are probably those of prisoners of war from World War II.
After a break, we will open the Sámi Museum and Nature Centre Siida for the public on Monday 1 June 2020 at 9 a.m. At the same time, we will launch the last year of the present Siida. We have started to extend the building, but visits to Siida will go on as usual throughout this year, until spring 2021.
The renovation and extension project of the Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida progresses as planned. The Senate Properties, which is the developer of the project, and Rekonen Ltd, which has been chosen the main entrepreneur of the extension, signed a contract on the construction on 11 May 2020. Construction will start immediately.
The Steering Committee Sápmi of the Interreg Nord Programme has granted support for a project called “Muittut, muitalusat – The Story of the Sámi by the Sámi”. The project is a collaboration of three Sámi museums – the Sámi Museum Siida from Inari, Finland (the leader and administrator), the Swedish Mountain and Sámi Museum Ájtte from Jokkmokk, and the South Sámi Museum and Cultural Centre Sáemien Sijte from Snåsa, Norway – as well as the University of Lapland and the Luleå University of Technology. The project period is 1.1.2020 – 30.9.2020, and the budget is approximately 2 million euros.
In its meeting on 18 March 2020, the Board of the Sámi Museum Foundation has decided to temporarily lay off personnel at the Sámi Museum Siida. Layoff affects seven employees of the Museum. The personnel of the Museum totals 16 persons. The layoff is carried out on grounds of the temporary close of the Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida due to the coronavirus epidemy.
The Sámi Museum and Nature Centre Siida is closed for the public for the time being at least until 13.5.2020 to slow down the spread of the coronavirus epidemy and to protect risk groups. Restaurant Sarrit will also be closed for the time being at least until 31.5.2020.
Sámi Museum Siida’s Museum Director Sari Valkonen Receives an Award at the Research Days for Adult Education
The Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida had a record of 63,935 visitors in its exhibitions and events in 2019. For the first time in its history, Siida had over 63,000 exhibition visitors. The personnel of Siida are pleased that an extension and renovation project and the renewal of Siida’s permanent exhibitions in near future will enable Siida to serve an increasing number of customers better and better.
The Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida will be renovated and extended in 2020–2022. As the owner of the Siida Building, Senate Properties has, through a decision by its Board of Directors, made an investment decision on the extension project on 18 December 2019. The Sámi Museum Foundation is the main tenant of the Siida Building, and the Foundation sublets parts of the house to the Nature Centre and Restaurant Sarrit.
The permanent exhibitions of the Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida will be renewed. The Sámi Museum Foundation has received a 400,000 euro grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation for renewing the cultural part of the exhibitions. In the project, the Museum will create an exhibition manuscript for the permanent exhibitions and the Open-Air Museum that will be based on atmospheres and the intepretations of Sámi artists. Through creating consciously atmospheres and a dramatic curve in the exhibitions, the information offered by the Museum will be better conveyed to the visitor.
