In this blog the curator and other employees of Hertonäs Manor Museum publish texts about the history of the museum, the history of Herttoniemi and other things we do. Welcome to follow us and read more in our blog!
Did you know that Finland's first ceramics factory was founded at Hertonäs Manor, and that the factory was also Finland's first limited company? Read more in this blog post!Read more »
In the summer of 2024, cataloguing work began on Knusbacka farmstead's peasant objects. During the work, some interesting objects came to light that we are now sharing with you. Read more »
A contract from the first of December 1858 is preserved at Hertonäs manor, which Stjernschantz drew up for a crofter named Gustaf Eklund. A crofter is a farmer who works on a small area of land leased to him, usually by a burgher. Through this contract, one can get a better picture of what a crofter's life was like in the mid-1800s, especially what was required of him. Read more about this in this blogpost!Read more »
The young officer Cronstedt had a successful start to his career, when he had already at the age
of 19 been promoted to lieutenant of the artillery. However, he wanted to continue advancing, so
he decided to go into service abroad. Read more about this in this blogpost!Read more »
In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were many active crofts on Hertonäs manor. Landowners usually also cultivated their own land and specially during the Bergboms time at Hertonäs the agriculture was greatly developed at the manor. When John Bergbom took over the responsibilities of running the farm from his mother Helena Bergbom in the 1880s, he started modernizing the agriculture by acquiring newly developed machinery for farming. The machines were mostly pulled by horses, so it was important to increase the number of working horses on the farm. In the late 18th hundreds John Bergbom bought a stallion for working on the farm and more importantly to produce foals.Read more »
Before Bergbom and Cronstedt Hertonäs estate had many ambitious and influential owners who left their mark on its history, some way or another. Mayor Abraham Wetter, merchant Johan Sederholm and field marshal Augustin Ehrensvärd are some of the most well-known owners of the estate during the 18th century but for the development of the estate, Bengt Gabriel von Spången was probably the most significant owner. He owned Hertonäs manor from 1761 until 1777 but in that short time he brought about many improvements on the estate and even founded the first joint stock company in Finland.Read more »
There are a lot of different objects and pictures in the archives of Hertonäs Manor Museum that have interesting stories behind them. Most of the objects and pictures relate to Hertonäs Manor in some way, but there are a few that have nothing to do with the Manor. When I was going through the picture archives, I stumbled upon a few photos that showed the king of Sweden visiting Finland during the 1950s. The photos lacked closer descriptions and when I catalogued the photos, I had no idea of exactly when the king of Sweden was in Helsinki during the 1950s. I did some detective work and discovered that the photos were taken in 1952 during the visit of the king of Sweden Gustaf VI Adolf and his wife in Helsinki. The king was not visiting because of the Olympics the same year. Read more down below!Read more »
There are many items at Hertonäs Manor Museum that have belonged to the Bergbom family, who was the former owner of the manor. As a trainee I and fellow trainee Sten Selin have worked with taking photographs and conserving these old items. Most of the items are old clothes and among these clothes we found a uniform that is not from Hertonäs. According to the item catalogue of the museum the uniform belonged to John Bergbom’s brother Karl Zachris Bergbom, who used it when he worked as deputy governor for the Bank of Finland. Read more down below!Read more »
During the summer Helsinki city museum visited Hertonäs manor museum. You can read more about the visits here and more about the everyday work of the trainees at Hertonäs manor museum!Read more »
Two pupils from Hoplaxskolan’s junior high in Munkkiniemi spent a day as interns at Hertonäs Manor Museum to get a glimpse of work at a museum. During a few hours they tried various light tasks under the watching eye of the curator. Read more about their day below! Read more »
Many servants of Hertonäs Manor have been working here during the centuries, but the cooperation was not always so smooth between the lords and the labourers. In one case the lady of the house gav her maid bad grades and in another case the maid disappeared without a trace. Read more below! Read more »
From the 1920’s to the 1950’s Hertonäs Manor had a museum för the writer and professor Zachris Topelius (1818-1898). The first curator, Paul Nyberg, was the grandchild of the writer and created the exhibition in 1925 together with his relatives. Today we still have a few objects from this phase in the exhibition at the museum. Read more below!Read more »
The year 2021 is over and the museum has a break during the winter, but in any case we can have a look at what occurred in the past year. The corona pandemic continued with restrictions, but we still enjoyed a big crowd and many groups, like back in 2020. In 2021 the Christmas Path with DOT became a huge hit. We also had pupils and interns at work. And we arranged an exhibition in cooperation with the University of Helsinki as well. Read more below!Read more »
Today Paris is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The capital of
France has a long and rich history from the medieval period to the French revolution
and to the modern age. There are many famous attractions in Paris such as the Louvre,
Notre Dame de Paris, Arc de Triomphe, Palace of Versailles and of course the Eiffel
Tower. The Exposition Universelle (world’s fair) 1889 is known for introducing the
Eiffel Tower. But what has Paris 1889 and the Eiffel Tower got to do with Herttoniemi
Manor Museum? When I went through different photo albums at Herttoniemi I
discovered that Helene Bergbom (born Gripenberg) has left behind an album with
pictures from the world’s fair 1889 and there were many interesting pictures in the
album. Read more down below!Read more »
The signings of retirement contracts (Swe. sytning) remained important up and into the 20th century – a fact that proves their importance to the denizens of the Finnish countryside. The last people living as so called sytningshjon lived to experience the birth of the national pension system in the 1930s, before national pensions and urbanisation eventually made the retirement contract system redundant as a primary form of retirement. The contracts could also be signed by burghers and their relatives. Read more below!Read more »