More than 20,000 people visited the Police Museum in 2020.
The number of visitors was good, even though the year was challenging because of the coronavirus epidemic.
“When the Emergency Powers Act took effect, the museum was closed from 17 March through the beginning of June. When the museum opened, we set a record for summer visitors in July, with nearly 6,500 guests. Later in the year new restrictions on the number of visitors were implemented and we have had to close certain parts of the exhibition space. The use of face masks has been mandatory both for personnel and museum guests”, says Manager Tiina Tuulasvaara-Kaleva.
One important goal for 2020 was increasing accessibility so that visitors with special needs could experience more.
“We opened a ‘touching permitted’ wall at the beginning of March. It turns out that with the coronavirus, the time for opening up may not have been the best possible, but the wall also works by just looking at it. We have added texts in Braille to the wall, as the sight-impaired have expressed a desire for objects that they can touch. In addition, a free sound guide serves all our visitors, and during the Christmas break we got access control stickers for it, making it easier for the sight-impaired to move around in the museum”, Tuulasvaara-Kaleva says.
Online content adds to diversity
The versatility of the online content took on an increasingly important role when it was not possible to physically visit museums. The new virtual tour of the Police Museum offers a possibility to get to see the basic exhibition “The Police is here!”. Information has now been added on the interesting details of the exhibition. The round will be enhanced by an audio drama in early 2021.
