Open-air museum and camp venue.
The museum presents the fishing
and farming culture which has been
characteristic of the coastal villages of Ostrobothnia.
- Open in summertime. At other times by appointment.
- Entry fee.
- Guided tours.
- Café. Catering service available upon reservation.
The Kilen Local Museum Foundation was established in the 1960s. Today Kilen serves not only as an open-air museum, but also as a camp venue, an inn and a hosPhone: The museum consists of some 20 buildings. All of the buildings have been relocated from different villages in Kristinestad.
Originally Kilen was a fishing harbour and the museum reflects this cultural environment: it presents the fishing and farming culture which has been characteristic of the coastal villages of Swedish- speaking Ostrobothnia.
Fishing culture is represented by the Jannegården fisherman's cottage. Fransgården, the farmhouse at Kilen, was erected around the turn of the 19th century. The building, originating in the village of Skaftung, is a two-room cottage, with a porch, an entrance room, a main room and a parlour. In the parallel end chambers the visitor is offered an insight into the rich textile tradition of southern Ostrobothnia.
In one of the buildings surrounding Fransgården there is a telePhone: museum with a village telePhone: exchange which was in use until the 1970s. In the farm- yard there is also a museum cottage which was relocated from the village of Henriksdal. This museum houses the lending-library which was in function in the village from the late 19th century.
At Kilen there is also a school museum and a coastal chapel symbolising the chapels common along the coast in the 17th and 18th centuries.
At
Kilen harbour there is an old fish salting house dating from the early
20th century. Today the salting house serves as a festivity venue and
dance pavilion. At the harbour there is also a small shipbuilding museum.
The inhabitants of Sideby built many of the big sailing-ships which sailed
the oceans of the world in the 19th century.