Finland/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates  

4.2.9 Heritage issues and policies

The big heritage issues in the early 1990s were the protection of historically valuable buildings and the urban and rural landscapes; and the most heated debate centred on the feasibility of delegating more decision-making power to the local level in matters concerning physical planning ("zoning"). During the 1991-1993 recessions these issues lost some of their relevance and the more traditional archaeological and museological issues and issues of heritage digitisation have come to the forefront. The archaeological and museological policies are planned and implemented by the National Board of Antiquities, an expert agency supervised by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The Ministry of Environment also has a central role, if the heritage concept is broadened to cover the protection of built heritage and national landscapes. In this role the Ministry of Environment is responsible for the preparation of certain national environmental and landscape protection programmes as well as national land use guidelines. Furthermore, it has actual official tasks, such as the confirmation of regional plans as well as decision-making linked with the Building Protection Act and the protection of state-owned buildings.

The outlines for the digitisation of cultural heritage for all "memory organisations" (museums, archives and libraries) are defined in the information strategy documents of the Ministry of Education and Culture and a special committee report on the heritage strategy in the information society. The digitisation is carried out in all three sectors as an integral part of all activities; the three "memory sectors" have established bodies for co-operation and the ministry has financed digitisation projects in different sectors and regions of the country.

In 2005, there were 165 professionally managed museums, with more than three hundred operating locations. Two-thirds of these museums were historical museums, the rest were special museums, arts museums and museums of natural history. Twenty of the museums are regional historical museums and 16 regional art museums. The re-organisation of the whole museum sector has been planned by an ad hoc committee, but the recent revision of the Museum Act only refines the criteria for "professionally managed" museums which are entitled to receive formula-based central government subsidy. The future of the museum sector will depend to a great extent on how the recently reformed statutory central government subsidy system will actually improve the financial situation in the museum sector. From the point of view of minorities, of importance is the SIIDA-Institute, the home of the Sámi Museum and the Northern Lapland Nature Centre. With its cultural and nature exhibitions, SIIDA provides in its collections and exhibitions items of Sámi culture and nature of Northern Lapland.

The National Board of Antiquities drafted in 2002 a proposal for the national strategy of cultural tourism, with an emphasis on sustainable development. The Finnish Tourist Board (under the Ministry of Employment and the Economy) deals also with the issues of cultural tourism and the regional councils take up these issues in their regional tourism strategies.

For more information, see
European Heritage Network: Country profile Finland