Lusto
The Finnish Forest Museum
Lustontie 1
58450 PUNKAHARJU
Finland
Phone +358 15 345 100
Telefax +358 15 345 1050
lusto@lusto.fi
As a national museum specialising in forests, Lusto collects and preserves material related to forestry and wood production, the multiple use of forests, and forest culture in general. The collection and the appropriate care, preservation and documentation of artefacts, pictures, archives and oral tradition, as well as background information concerning these, are among the main tasks of the museum. The preservation work and collections serve both society and individual clients – visitors to the exhibition, researchers and forest heritage enthusiasts – as well as future generations. The museum serves as part of society’s memory, stretching beyond an individual’s memory.
Lusto has the main responsibility as an expert in the field for collecting and preserving the heritage related to forest culture in the whole of Finland. The work requires constant cooperation with other Finnish museums, forestry organisations and private persons. The care and management of the collections and their utilisation in research and exhibition projects is also often based on cooperation with various parties. The responsibility for as well as the joy deriving from the cultural heritage of forests should be shared by all.
Lusto’s collections can be explored and studied either at the museum by arrangement or in a digital format online. KANTAPUU is a joint data base of the collections of several museums, available in Finnish only. It is the first online data base shared by a number of museums in Finland, and it is also the most extensive. Anybody interested can have access to the data base for browsing and searching for information about the collections at various museums. Pictures of the collection items can also be ordered via the data base. At present, the Kantapuu data base contains tens of thousands of photos and artefacts related to forest culture. It is expanding rapidly as the digitisation of the material progresses.
