The Salpa Line Museum (, ) was established and opened in 1987 by the municipality of

Miehikkälä Miehikkälä () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Southern Finland and is part of the Kymenlaakso regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of (), ...

and by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

veteran organisations. It is the first museum established in Miehikkälä. The other museums are the Miehikkälän kotiseutumuseo and the Miehikkälä local arts and crafts museum, which was established in 1989 and is located in the same building as the

Engineers Museum The Engineers Museum (also known as the Engineer Museum, the Pioneer Museum or the Sapper Museum; , ) was a military engineering museum in Finland. It was the oldest corps museum in Finland. It was opened on 13 May 1945 in the garrison of Koria ...

. The Salpa Line Museum is the core of the Salpa Centre, which is the tourist information centre of the Salpa Line Museum, the Engineers Museum and the Bunker Museum. The surrounding area was built as a defensive line for an infantry company in 1940–1944. The defensive line never saw active combat as the front line did not reach the area due to the truce of 5 September 1944 and the

Moscow Armistice The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of modi ...

of 19 September 1944. Some of the preserved

Salpa Line The Salpa Line (, literally ''Latch line''; ), or its official name, Suomen Salpa (''Finland's Latch''), is a bunker line on the eastern border of Finland. It was built in 1940–1941 during the Interim Peace between the Winter War and the Conti ...

areas are classified as built-up cultural environments of national importance by Finland's National Board of Antiquities. The territory of the Salpa Line Museum belongs to one of the four such areas in Miehikkälä: Kylmälä, Miehikkälä municipal cente, Muurula and Myllylampi.

Exhibits

Due to the nature of the museum, most collections are located outside in the woods. Some bunkers from World War II remain. There are several anti-tank guns outside the museum centre building. {, border="1" class="wikitable" , - ! Object # !! Military use !!

WGS 84 The World Geodetic System (WGS) is a standard used in cartography, geodesy, and satellite navigation including GPS. The current version, WGS 84, defines an Earth-centered, Earth-fixed coordinate system and a geodetic datum, and also descri ...

!! Description , - , 321 , , Anti-tank dugout, machine gun position and accommodation for a half infantry platoon, 20 soldiers , , , - , 322 , , Accommodation dugout for a platoon, 40 soldiers , , , , "Economy model" , - , 385 , , Artillery observation dugout, accommodation for 20 soldiers , , , , , - , 327 , , Accommodation dugout for 20 soldiers , , , , , - , 326 , , Machine gun dugout and accommodation for 20 soldiers , , , - , 360 , , Anti-tank gun position with a 7.5 cm Pak 40, 7.5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40{{cite web , url=http://www.kaakko135.fi/paikat/salpalinja , title=Salpalinja | Kaakko135° , accessdate=2012-04-03 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120804151849/http://www.kaakko135.fi/paikat/salpalinja , archivedate=2012-08-04 , , , , Open, restored 75 mm anti-tank gun position , -

Gallery

Image:Salpaline machinegun bunker.jpg, A machine gun bunker in the Salpa Line Museum Image:Salpa line anti tank gun.jpg, 7.5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40 in the Salpa Line Museum

References

Museums in South Karelia Military engineering Technology museums in Finland Museums established in 1987 Military and war museums in Finland