This is the third report on heritage at risk in Finland. The development has been moderate and the main trends in the heritage field have been the better coverage of the risk analysis and preparedness schemes of sites, the improvement of the cultural heritage data-base and the integration of cultural heritage into instructions and guidelines for other fields of activity (for example, the Instructions for preparedness of fire and rescue forces). Fortunately no dramatic accidents or hazards for cultural heritage have occurred.

Protecting Cultural Heritage

The primary means to protect built cultural heritage in Finland is through land-use planning as prescribed in the Land Use and Building Act (2000). The important role of cultural heritage and cultural landscapes in all land-use planning is strongly stressed in the Act. However, the number of sites and buildings protected by land-use plans according to the Land Use and Building Act is not adequately registered and the information thus not available.
    In addition to the Land Use and Building Act, Finland has other specific acts to protect cultural heritage:
  • Act on the Protection of Buildings (1985): protection of nationally valuable buildings and/or sites primarily outside the planned area, approximately 230 sites protected.
  • Church Act (1993): churches and parish houses built before 1917 are automatically protected; altogether approximately 500 buildings or sites.
  • Act on Archaeological Remains (1995): archaeological sites are automatically protected; approximately 14,000 pre-historic and historic sites are registered.
  • Decree on the Protection of State-Owned Buildings (1985): approximately 900 buildings and/or sites are protected.

The National Board of Antiquities is the national expert organisation for archaeological and cultural historic sites. The Ministry of the Environment has a decisive role at the national level in land-use planning and in the protection of buildings and sites under the Act on the Protection of Buildings. The major threats to the built heritage in Finland (in the order of frequency) are:
  • fire
  • misuse and neglect
  • moisture damage
  • old or altered land-use plans that do not support the maintenance of the built heritage.

Main Development Trends

The important trends in Finland affecting the maintenance and use of the built heritage are:
  • the polarisation of economic growth between the ten growth centres and the rest of the country, which is causing an overall threat to cultural heritage throughout Finland;
  • changes in agricultural production, which result in many of the old structures and buildings being taken out of use and which radically affect the cultural landscape;
  • local authorities have greater responsibility in land-use planning matters since the Land Use and Building Act came into force on 1 January 2000;
  • stronger emphasis on public participation in land-use planning and heritage conservation under the Land Use and Building Act.
The Strategy for the Built Heritage was adopted by the Council of States on 13 June 2001. The strategy puts emphasis on public awareness and the responsibility of the owner, whether private or public, to maintain the built heritage. The Strategy obliges the State and municipal authorities to improve the access of citizens to cultural heritage data and to strengthen the participation in heritage protection.

Heritage in General Risk Preparedness Strategies

The Finnish Red Cross is responsible for organising training for the military in human-rights issues during armed conflict. The Hague Convention is incorporated into the training programme, with expertise sought from ICOMOS and the Finnish Ministry of the Environment.

The working group for the implementation of the Hague Convention in Finland has been operational since 1996. It is preparing the list of monuments and sites to be marked with the Blue Shield in Finland and is engaged in actions to raise awareness about the Hague Convention.

In contrast to previous years, there have not been seminars between national committees of ICOMOS and ICOM in Finland, the representatives of the Defence Forces, the Civic Protection and Training Organisations and the Fire and Rescue forces, but there have been smaller meetings concerning the Hague Convention and instructions for municipalities about the Preparedness of Fire and Rescue forces, which the Ministry of Internal Affairs is renewing.

Risk Preparedness in the Heritage Field

Through work that is co-ordinated by the Finnish Museums Association (www.museoliitto.fi/englanti/index.htm), all museums in Finland are required to prepare a Risk Analysis and a Risk Preparedness Plan. The Finnish national committees of ICOMOS and ICOM have produced a guidebook aimed at Finnish crisis relief workers working abroad. The guidebook Integrating the Protection of the Cultural Property into Disaster Relief Work (1999, 2nd edition 2000, in Finnish Kulttuuriomaisuuden suojelu osana kriisityötä) gives basic advice on how to take cultural heritage into account in relief work. A number of conventions are appended to the book: the Hague Convention; the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention; the Unidroit Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects; the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property; and the World Heritage Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

For more information please contact:

Ms Minna Perähuhta, member of the Risk Preparedness Committee of ICOMOS International; Senior Architect, Ministry of the Environment, e-mail: minna.perahuhta@ymparisto.fi, tel: + 358-9-1603-9566, fax: + 358-9-1603-9588 or Mr Karim Peltonen, secretary of the Working Group for the Implementation of the Hague Convention; Curator, National Board of Antiquities, e-mail: karim.peltonen@nba.fi, tel: +358-9-4050-6484, fax: +358-9-4050-9420

ICOMOS Finland