PUBLIC ATTRACTIONS
The public attractions of Luomus introduce the natural sciences to the general public. The attractions are the Natural History Museum in Töölö as well as the Botanic Gardens in Kaisaniemi and Kumpula. The geological collections in Kumpula Manor are only accessible to visitors in summertime.
In 2020, due to the corona virus pandemic, Luomus was forced to restrict the opening of its public attractions and the number of visitors. The Natural History Museum and the glasshouses in Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden were closed for many months. During this time, Luomus took advantage of the challenging times by developing its web content and creating new virtual guided tours and virtual exhibitions. Luomus was thus able to offer scientific information in a new, interesting and easily accessible format.
VISITOR FIGURES
The year 2019 brought a new visitor record for its three public attractions with a total of 352 000 visitors. The corona virus pandemic in 2020 reduced the number of visitors at the Natural History Museum. The outdoor gardens, however, were popular during this same period. Kumpula Botanic Garden reached a new record in 2020 with more than 27 700 visitors (Table 14), despite the garden being closed for one month. The Natural History Museum and the glasshouses in Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden were closed for approximately four months in 2020.
Exhbitions
Luomus develops and updates its exhibitions constantly according to the latest scientific information available. Biodiversity loss, the mitigation of climate change and the interaction between human and nature are growing fields in science, and their relevance in the exhibitions is increasing.
Some of the halls in the exhibition, Change in the Air, were updated in 2019 and 2020. Change in the Air, which discusses climate change and its influence on northern nature throughout history, was completed with a section on human impact. The last hall in the exhibition is undergoing renovation at the moment in collaboration with Remeo Oy. Luomus and Remeo Oy work together to mitigate the effects of climate change. The collaboration can be seen in the “solutions room” in the exhibition Change in the Air. There, visitors are challenged to come up with concrete methods to prevent climate change. The renewed solution room will be open for the public in June 2021.
In 2020 Luomus began, in parallel with renewal of its exhibitions, an active development of its online services and virtual exhibitions. The production of a virtual tour in the exhibition Change in the Air was the first big step toward more open exhibition activities that are easily accessible.
In September 2020 the temporary exhibition Antarktika was opened at the Natural History Museum. The exhibition details the scientific field work conducted in extreme conditions at the research station Aboa in Antarctica. The focus is on the interaction between humans and the rest of nature. Unfortunately, corona virus restrictions made it difficult for people to visit this exhibition.
Due to the corona virus situation and the uncertain financial situation at Luomus, nearly all days with free entrance to Luomus public attractions were cancelled in 2020.
GUIDED TOURS
The guided tours at Luomus are very popular and the tours are attended by a diverse group of people. Annually, we offer guided tours at the Natural History Museum and at both botanic garden facilities. Luomus constantly develops its tour activities by offering new guided tours every year and by transmitting topical issues. Late spring and end of the year are the busiest times for guided tours.
The corona virus pandemic affected the number of groups participating on guided tours. In 2019 a total of 853 guided tours (subject to a fee) were organised, in 2020 only 145 were carried out. The average tour group size was 20 persons. Most of the tours are given at the Natural History Museum, which is open all year round, but an abundance of tours are also given at the botanic gardens. In the summer of 2019, for instance, Kumpula Botanic Garden celebrated ten years of opening by offering guided tours every day for a week.
In 2020 most of the guided tours were cancelled, but it was possible to organize public 30-minute tours (prize included in the entrance fee) about Felidae species during the summer at the Natural History Museum. In addition to the cat tours, the traditional outdoor garden tours given at Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden were very popular. Furthermore, some public tours were given in the glasshouses in autumn 2020. Luomus organised a total of 91 public guided tours that attracted 933 persons in total. These tours are not included in the tour statistics below.
EVENTS
Luomus arranges events throughout the year. The most popular public events of Luomus, such as the mushroom exhibition and the activities offered during school breaks in autumn and winter, garner a total number of more than 10 000 visitors each year.
The Natural History Museum had several open workshops in 2019–2020, focusing on themes such as winter, dinosaurs and insects. In addition, visitors had a chance to explore the extreme conditions in Antarctica and topical Antarctica-research with the help of the new temporary exhibition Antarktika.
Luomus participated in the Lovely Helsinki –festival in the spring 2019 by offering free guided tours at Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden. The environmental installation Maatuu, uinuu, henkii was on display in the garden during the summer. In autumn 2019, Luomus participated in the event European Researchers’ night at Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden, where Luomus researchers gave talks on scorpions, tarantulas, bats and insects. Later in the autumn, the festival Music for Plants took place in the glasshouses.
Kumpula Botanic Garden and the geological collections had free entrance on Helsinki Day and Finnish Nature Day, and free entrance for mothers on Mother’s Day in 2019. Kumpula also celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2019.
Luomus had to cancel all days with free entrance in 2020 due to the uncertain financial situation and the corona virus restrictions.