Om ett museifartyg i Åbo som politiskt argument

Authors

  • Ulla Kallberg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/nm.3383

Abstract

A museum ship as a political argument

In Turku, South-West Finland, the Forum Marinum, a local maritime museum and maritime centre, wished to move a museum ship, the Suomen Joutsen, from a quay where she has been stationary since 1960 to a quay in front of the museum. The museum argued, that the ship would be better preserved in a new place with less air pollution and deeper water, would be easier to take care of and demand lower investment. However, the ship is owned by the municipality and decisions concerning it are made by politicians, who were neither willing to discuss nor make a decision about changing her moring. This behaviour was influenced by the imminent elections. The Suomen Joutsen is of great national interest and is expected to arouse passionate reactions.

The article discusses how a museum piece, a museum ship, can become a political apparatus, a means for achieving personal or political goals. We can analyse the discussion about the ship’s moring on the River Aura by asking, who is constructing and defining cultural meanings and for what end. At the same time we can see how the presence of the ship can strengthen local identity, and how cultural values and objects can be used to achieve personal goals and simultaneously question the views of the researchers. But it has to be remembered that the museum is a part of the community and also uses its power.

Finally, the ship celebrated her centenary in the summer of 2002, and the local museum received permission to move her temporarily to the quay in front of the museum to join the other stationary museum ships already there.

The inhabitants reacted. Some people thought that the ship looked nice and it was all right to move her, others claimed that the ship was no longer visible in the city centre where she belonged. They also claimed that she was a part of the urban landscape which her removal had ruined. They used the argument that a line had been drawn between other Finns and the people in the city. Only the people in the city had the right to say anything about the Suomen Joutsen. When it was time to return the ship back to her old moring, the water level was too low. While waiting for it to rise, the politicians decided to leave the ship in front of the museum for another year. Some people were disappointed and called the politicians traitors. 

Downloads

Issue

Section

Articles