Ikikallio tells stories at Vantaa City Museum's exhibition
Vantaa City Museum has launched a new exhibition: Ikikallion tarinoita – mammuteista meidän aikaamme (“Ikikallio stories - from mammoths to the present day”). The exhibition is based on a children’s non-fiction book of the same name, which will be published at the end of October. In addition to the story and pictures in the book, archaeological objects found in Vantaa are also on exhibit.
I am a small rock. My name nowadays is Stenkullan kallio (“Stenkulla rock”), but I have also had many other names.
I have been here for a very long time. I have seen many tribes and heard many languages. I have monitored people and their lives: grief, joy, hatred, and love. I have seen how nature and animals have changed.
Now I wish to tell you all that I have experienced.
Citation from Ikikallion tarinoita – Mammuteista meidän aikaamme (Andreas Koivisto, Vantaa City Museum)
Ikikallion tarinat was written by the museum's archaeologist Andreas Koivisto and illustrated by Tom Björklund, an artist specialized in prehistory. The model of the rock is Stenkullanmäki—situated in Hakkila in Vantaa—whose surroundings show signs of human action dating back to the Stone Age.
“This exhibition shows archaeological objects found in Vantaa more extensively than ever before,” enthuses Vantaa City Museum’s curator Anni Rissanen.
Most of the objects have been borrowed for the exhibition from the collections of Finland's National Board of Antiquities and from the National Museum of Finland. The oldest objects are stone tools dating back approximately 10,000 years. Meanwhile, the newest objects were found in 2019 at the excavations made together with students of Viertola school, and they date back to the late 1900s.
The Ikikallion tarinoita exhibition is especially designed for child visitors. The main exhibition texts are written in plain Finnish in order to make the exhibition as easily accessible as possible.
“This way, even those who have problems in reading the Finnish language can understand the story,” Rissanen explains.
You can read the longer version of Ikikallion tarinoita in separate booklets in Finnish, Swedish, and English.
The exhibition rooms take you from one era and atmosphere to another. The beginning describes Ikikallio under ice, in the bottom of the sea, and then progresses to introduce tribes of different eras, as well as, for instance, a very interesting shaman. The end familiarizes you with the work of an archaeologist and lets you leave your own wooden mark on the surface of the rock.
Tuomas Siitonen is responsible for the exhibition architecture and Johannes Nieminen for the graphics.
The exhibition is open until February 25, 2024.
Opening hours: Tue-Thurs at 11:00-18:00, Sat-Sun at 11:00-16:00.
