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In the home museum you can experience the manor and thereby the
former living quarters of Mauno and Ester Wanhalinna.
The edifice of the estate was completed in 1930 by Onni Touru.
The large brick building was very up-to-date for instance for
the chosen central heating system. Its installation was the decisive
factor for the solid, broad walls of the house. Compared to the
new manor the old, original building was a traditional rural farmhouse.
Right after completing the edifice, the former estate owner,
Kaarlo Wanhalinna, bequeathed the main building to his son Mauno.
For a long time Vanhalinna was a private farm until Ester and
Mauno Wanhalinna donated it in 1956 to the then still private
University of Turku.
Ester and Mauno were themselves very keen on art and culture
and they bequeathed not only the estate but also their objects
d'art and culture to the University.
The Mauno and Ester Wanhalinna home museum houses e.g. the collections
of furniture and interiors of the former Phoenix-house. The Phoenix-house
was built in 1878 and it was located in the city centre of Turku.
It functioned from 1922 to the 1950th as the main building of
the private University of Turku. During the 1950s the University
was moved to its today's location and an auction was carried out.
Many items of furniture changed their owners and a lot of things
were bought by Mauno Wanhalinna for the museum (e.g. from the
meeting room of the Board of Trustees).
Moreover The Mauno and Ester Wanhalinna home museum shows different
furnishings and works of art from regional and international artists,
e.g. works from Wäinö Aaltonen.
On the ground floor of the museum you can have a look at different
rooms of the manor:
The chamber of the housekeeper (originally intended for the daughter),
the hall, the dining hall, the kitchen or rather the kitchen-cum-living-room,
the room of the house-owner, the lobby and the "Kultaranta-room".
The latter is adorned with the furnishings of the dining hall
of the estate of Kultaranta on the Island of Luonnonmaa in Naantali.
Kultaranta's original owner was the successful, Finnish businessman
and patron of arts Alfred Kordelin, who had built the almost castle-like
manor for himself in 1914. Since 1922 it is used as the summer
residence of the President of Finland.
On the first floor of the main building you can visit the Phoenix-house
room as well as the concert and banqueting hall.
 Mauno
and Ester Wanhalinna Home Museum
Archaeological
Exhibition
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