Every year, tens of thousands of tourists come to Helsinki to witness one of the main attractions of the Finnish capital, the legendary Fortress of Suomenlinna. Some of them loungingly stroll, admiring the powerful fortress walls, others visit one or all the six museums in the fortress. One of these museums is the famous Manege, the exhibition space of the Finnish Military Museum.
The Manege became a museum only at the end of the 20th century. But the history of the building began a hundred years before that. Then the Finnish lands belonged to the Russians, who used the fortress as a military base and built the Manege to store artillery weapons and ammunition.
Architect Greifon designed a brick building with plastered walls and a clay floor. There were stoves on both sides of the front door. But later they were removed to the hall along with new vent pipes. Then a concrete floor appeared. At one time, the building was occupied by a gymnasium, an artillery depot, even a band with its own stage and changing rooms. It's funny, but despite its name, there's never been a single horse in the Manege, not even a toy one.
It is no accident that the Manege became a branch of the military museum. For some time, it housed the Museum of the Navy. Thus, all that was lacking was to renovate the room, lay a new floor, and remove the old stoves. It took several years to present the first museum exhibition to the public.
Today, the museum displays an exhibition entitled "From Autonomy to Atalanta". Placed in the main hall, it is divided into three parts. The first part is dedicated to the military history of Finland. The second part demonstrates what the Finnish military looked like in different years: from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day. The third part consists of large exhibits, like military equipment, guns, and missiles.