Pien-Toijola Open-Air Museum near Mikkeli
Located around 40 km from Mikkeli in the village of Toijola, you will get a fascinating look in to the rural Finnish life in the 18th and 19th centuries at the Pien-Toijola Open-Air Museum. The museum has 28 buildings for you to explore from the main building to barns, storehouses and saunas. You will get to see how Finnish farms functioned and how the households and peasants lived during those times and explore the many artifacts which were in everyday use.
Owned by the Toijonen family since 1672, the Open-Air Museum has an honorary plaque from the Foundation for Finnish Peasant Culture for preserving a significant rural cultural environment. Nearby at Astuvansalmi you also find the largest collection of ancient rock paintings in the Nordics and a historical villa Kallioniemi which has a great significance in Finland becoming an independent country in 1917.