The Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida located in Inari village centre is undergoing big changes and renovation. The extension work is under way and the renovation of the current building will begin in spring 2021. The joint permanent exhibition of the Sámi Museum and the Nature Centre will also be renewed during the extension and renovation work.
The Sámi Museum Siida is a communal museum. It has a plan of arranging community meetings in the areas of collection and exhibition work both in the Sámi Area and elsewhere in Finland. During the Covid-19 period, the meetings are arranged virtually, using remote access facilities. The first virtual meeting will be an Inari Sámi Language Night on Thursday, October 8th 2020, which focuses on items from the Finnish National Museum that were collected in the Inari region in 1902.
The Sámi Museum Siida’s temporary exhibition Sámi seremoniijat – Sámi ceremonies follows, from the point of view of the Sámi crafting tradition, how Maarit Magga prepares as a mother and an artisan for her family’s ceremonies – confirmation and baptism. The story proceeds on several levels: those of crafting, or duodji, and Sámi values, view of life, customs and spirituality.
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 – 30.9.2022, 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
