European Days on Cultural Environments in Siida 18–19 September 2014

The Cultural Environment Days of Siida are aimed at increasing knowledge of and appreciation for the Sámi cultural environment and at focusing on the work Sámi Museum’s Cultural Environment Unit does on preserving, managing and collecting information on the cultural environment. The Cultural Environment Unit has now operated for more than three years, with great results, but mostly in the form of projects and through special funding. Creating a permanent basis for the unit is one of the goals of the National Cultural Environment Strategy of Finland. Through its activities, the unit enhances the cultural autonomy of the Sámi.

A Museum Without Walls: Siida’s Open-Air Museum into the Mobile Era!

Siida’s Open-Air Museum – a museum filled with tradition – will move on to modernity on Thursday 18 September 2014 at 6 p.m. when the Mobile Guide of the Open-Air Museum is launched. The opening ceremony begins at the oldest point of interest in the museum, the farmyard of Tirro. Before getting acquainted with the digital guide service, the audience will have the chance of listening to Heli Aikio sing. Take with You a smartphone or tablet - we will guide how to use a mobile guide. The occasion, with coffee and cake, is free for everyone!

What does “museum without walls” or “mobile guide” mean? If you want to step into a new era, the Museum without Walls, you will need to take along a smartphone or a tablet into the Open-Air Museum. To complement the guiding texts of the museum, we have chosen 12 points of interest to which we have given extra life through archive photos, videos and recordings. These points have been marked with signs of QR codes. This first Mobile Guide of Siida contains extra information on the Open-Air Museum’s history and exhibits. The points of interest include the farmyard of Tirro and the traditional Sámi tent, bealljegoahti; the Mobile Guide also contains Matti Morottaja’s memories from the days when he was the first summer employee of the museum.

Siida’s Mobile Guide will be available in North Sámi, Finnish and English. Thus, we will serve not only the local people but also other visitors to Siida.

The project on the Mobile Guide of the Open-Air Museum has been carried out with the help of Museum Without Walls, a service developed jointly by the Finnish Museums Association and the company Momeo Oy. The Mobile Guide of the Open-Air Museum is part of the project The Open-Air Museum Now! which has received financing from the Finnish National Board of Antiquities. The goal of this innovative project of Siida is to make the traditional Open-Air Museum part of today and accessible to the audience in a new way. The Mobile Guide has been assembled by the Sámi Museum’s project worker Tiina-Mari Kärnä and the Cultural Environment Unit of the museum.

Discussion on Siida’s Cultural Environment Unit, 19 September 2014

On Friday 19 September 2014, a discussion is arranged in the auditorium of Siida on the future permanent basis of the work on the cultural environment. Discussion is for the invited guests.