Exhibition Mà¤ccmàµÅ¡, maccà¢m, mà¡hccan – The Homecoming celebrates the repatriation of Sà¡mi artefacts to the Sà¡mi homeland
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- 27 Jan 2022
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Requests to have the National Museum’s Sámi collection returned had been made before, but the negotiations did not begin properly until the Sámi jubilee year of 2017 when Director General Elina Anttila from the National Museum of Finland and the then Director of the Finnish Heritage Agency, Juhani Kostet, took part in the celebration held in Trondheim as part of Bååstede, a similar repatriation project in Norway.
‘Repatriation is currently a hot topic in the museum sector around the world and challenges us to rethink the role of museums and the power that they wield. While the focus has shifted to cultural diversity, people’s and population groups’ ability to determine their own cultural heritage and decide on its use has become increasingly important. It was easy to engage in the discussions initiated by Sámi Museum Siida’s Museum Director, Sari Valkonen. This required an in-depth review of the Sámi collection of the National Museum of Finland and all aspects that needed to be considered if it were to be repatriated,’ says Director General Elina Anttila from the National Museum of Finland.
The Sámi collection consists of some two thousand artefacts and was assembled over a 170-year period beginning in the 1830s. A memorandum of understanding on the repatriation of the Sámi artefacts was signed in April 2017 at an event held at the National Museum of Finland in Helsinki.
‘The repatriation process has increased Sámi communities’ interest towards museum collections and made our work as the Sámi’s own museum more visible. Soon, we will see all the positive effects that this repatriation will bring,’ says Sámi Museum Siida’s Museum Director, Sari Valkonen.
On 26 August 2021, the National Museum of Finland received the Finnish Government’s approval to return approximately 2,200 objects from the Sámi collection to the Sámi Museum Siida. The artefacts were carried to Inari, Sápmi, to Sámi Museum Siida in September 2021.
’It brings our past closer to us Sámi and enables us to study and reconnect to our cultural heritage in our own terms. It is a symbolic gesture of recognising Sámi people’s right to manage their own cultural heritage’, Curator Anni Guttorm from the Sámi Museum Siida says.
Co-produced exhibition illustrates the importance of controlling cultural heritage
The exhibition Mäccmõš, maccâm, máhccan – The Homecoming that opened in November 2021 illustrates the vibrant Sámi culture and provokes thoughts about the importance, value and ownership of cultural heritage. The exhibition is part of a repatriation process and celebrates the return of cultural heritage, large in scale even at a global level.
The exhibition is produced by The National Museum of Finland and Sámi Museum Siida. The exhibition working group has ten members, including museum experts from Siida and the National Museum of Finland, as well as representatives of the Sámi community, such as contemporary artists. The exhibition working group challenged itself to cross the boundaries between the ethnographical and art museums. Read More…
