Museon päärakennusThe Kuorevesi local arts-and-crafts museum is situated in a beautiful place by Kuorevesi lake. The museum is run by Kuorevesi-Seura (Kuorevesi Society) and shows the life and artefacts of a rural household in the 19th and early 20th century.

The Kuorevesi Society was founded in 1955 to raise local awareness of the people of Kuorevesi. The founding meeting was held in the Kuokkala farmers' society house and the idea of starting a museum was there from the beginning.

The farmers' society gave a plot for the museum to rent next to the club house of Kuokkala and the museum was opened with a party in August 1963.

The main building of Virkajärvi was acquired from the village of Joensuu to serve as the museum building. Virkajärvi had gone empty after the four sons of the house had died in the Finnish wars and the fifth had died shortly after the wars.

The first chairperson of the Kuorevesi Society, Eeva Laaksi, and her sisters Aune and Irja were for decades the museum's strong women. The society and its museum were funded from the beginning with the sale of the Kuoreveden Joulu Christmas magazine.

Copy: Hanna-Leena Autio
Pictures: Archives of the Kuorevesi Society, Eila Anttonen, Hanna-Leena Autio and Saija Silén
Sources: Peltonen, Anu. Kuoreveden kotiseutumuseon museosuunnitelma.