Kuopio Local History Museum

The Kuopio Museum is focused on the nature of North-Western Europe. But the collections are dominated by exhibits of Eastern Finland. The Kuopio Museum’s collection was created in 1887 when Benjamin Stahlberg donated three stuffed owls to the new museum.

In 1901, A. Y. Mela supported the new collection by donating his samples of plants, minerals, insects, birds and eggs. When the building was ready for the museum, in 1907, the Kuopio Society of Naturalists began collecting materials for the collection and organized the first exhibition.

Collection of exhibits continued until 1960. By this time, the collection of the museum already numbered about 1,500 vertebrates, 22,000 insects and eggs of 300 different species of birds.