History of the Museum

The Imperial Senate ordered on 14th December 1888, that an allowance be granted for the operation of a handicraft museum beginning in 1890.The resulting museum operated under the Society of Industrial Art and was located at the Museum of Art and Design (operating today as the Design Museum).

In 1908-1926 the museum was called the State Handicraft Museum and it operated under the State Home Industry Office in Helsinki. Later in 1927-1933 the museum operated jointly with the Museum of Industrial Art, and after this the collections of the museum were placed in store and operation was discontinued.

In 1982 the museum restarted as an independent museum in Jyväskylä using the name Home Industry Museum of Finland. The museum was located near University of Jyväskylä at Seminaarinkatu 32.

We were one of the first five museums to be nominated as a national specialized museum in 1992 and at the same year the National Costume Center of Finland was founded as part of the museum. Few years later, in 1995, The Conservation Center for textiles, run by the Art and Science Foundation of Jyväskylä, was annexed to the museum.

We were renamed as the Craft Museum of Finland  on 1st January 1997. 
On 16th June, 2000, the museum moved to a fully renovated new location, in which we are right now.