Support our work for diversity of nature

The University of Helsinki and Luomus offer everyone who is interested in nature and the natural sciences the opportunity to support Luomus. Increasing the understanding of nature and biodiversity benefits both Finnish society and every visitor to the museum.

The donations help us build exhibitions, arrange events and provide environmental education while guaranteeing opening hours of the museum that allow our varied, research-based exhibitions to reach as many nature-lovers as possible. This means that your donation benefits both Finnish society and every museum visitor!

Researchers at Luomus are studying the plants and animals in Finland and the world and the ways they are related, and they regularly find previously undiscovered species in Finland, while collecting specimens of existing species to preserve them for future researchers. Often museum collections are the only remaining evidence of past biodiversity. The work of the researchers is also used to monitor the status of the environment, and Luomus experts can field an amazingly wide array of questions relating to nature, both from members of the public and in the media.

Finland has committed to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which states that countries must budget increasing amounts of resources to study and ensure biodiversity. Many poor countries have vibrant natural environments, but they cannot survey – and protect – them without our help. Luomus is participating in such work, for example, in Madagascar and China.

Luomus also has special expertise in its Laboratory of Chronology, which cooperates with experts from a variety of fields. The Laboratory can determine the age of a piece of mammoth bone, or analyse fuel to reveal how much of it is derived from fossils and how much from renewable sources.

The three public venues of the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus – the Natural History Museum and the Botanic Gardens of Kaisaniemi and Kumpula – annually host more than 400,000 visits. They explain biodiversity by encouraging contemplation, seeking, asking questions, looking, touching, experimenting – and providing many different experiences of natural phenomena.

For generations, the Natural History Museum of Luomus has helped visitors of all ages to learn about nature. Every year, the museum organises hundreds of guided tours for kindergarten groups, school groups of all ages, and an increasing number of adult groups. The exhibitions, events and guided tours that offer so much information, delight and ideas to the public require multidisciplinary expertise, the long-term cooperation of many experts and the constant development of contents.

The Finnish Museum of Natural History is an independent research institution functioning under the University of Helsinki. It is also one of the three central national museums in Finland and responsible for the national collections in its field. The collections, which include botanical, zoological, geological and paleontological specimens from all over the world, serve research in the fields of biology and geology as well as educational purposes.