During the long decision process, a new idea was raised and the Council started to seriously consider the Foundation model. On the 7th of September 1999, the Rauma Maritime Museum Foundation was established and the foundation charter was undersigned by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation, Vakka-Suomi Youth Foundation, City of Rauma and Länsi - Suomi Ltd. The Rauma Maritime Museum Association names four persons as Members of the Maritime Museum Board and one member from the City of Rauma.

The Maritime museum is located in the former Maritime school The Rauma Nautical School was established in 1880 and was first located at various addresses around town. The school moved in 1900 into the new purpose-built premises designed by architect Otto F. Holm. Maritime education would continue there until 1969 when the new larger building in the harbour was taken into use. The idea of the Maritime Museum was also popular at the time, but eventually the old school was transformed into a temporary community centre for the next 30 years. Now we can consider this decision good, because it saved the building from radical "improvements" that were so common in the 1970s.

The project has three phases

The first phase was to explore available resources and build up the financial structure and this was partly funded by the local European Union Regional Council named Satakuntaliitto. The task was to renovate the building and to convert it into a museum. The third phase is now in progress, when the contents and museum pedagogy is built. Also the navigation simulator will be realised during this phase.

In the future it is quite probable, that after the opening ceremonies, a new project will commence. A separate building will be designed for large objects like boats etc. There will also be carpenters and blacksmiths workshops with glass windows and the customers can become acquainted with old working methods. The new building will also have a separate library and archives that meet modern standards. Also limited conservation work will be carried out.

The concept of the Rauma Maritime Museum

There are more than 1100 museums in Finland and that means to most, the greatest museum density in the world in proportion to the population. Therefore there must be very good reasons to build more museums in Finland. The common image of a museum is a house full of glass cases and old dusty things.

In the early stages of the Rauma Concept, the moves were geared towards the younger generation. The most important concept is the full mission navigation simulator. At the beginning it was designed only for children around ten years of age. That provoked some discussion about injustice among the senior citizens and why they are discriminated. Now the simulator bridge has a moving floor (deck) and it can be adjusted to the height of the navigators.

The Museum has signed a contract with Transas Marine and the simulator will be the first of its kind in the world. The bridge structure is from 30´s tramp and the sea spreads 156 degrees around the superstructure. There are 15 different ships and more than 100 areas around the world. The navigators can sail their ship into ports like Sydney, New York, Rauma and Helsinki, or learn the rules of the road in the English Channel. The difficulty level can be adjusted according to age and skill.

The museum pedagogy

The days of fast walk-troughs are over in the Rauma Maritime Museum. The special "information system" will be built on three levels and special "lighthouses" have been built for the purpose. The first level of information is located close to the object and it is only a small sign that answers the question "what is this".

The second and third levels are built in the "lighthouses" as there is little point in having the museum covered in books-on-legs that no-one reads. The customers can get a cup of coffee from the museum café and study their interests comfortably in a chair at their own pace and according to their interests.

On the lighthouse screen the customer picks up the object and then the second level of information fills the screen. It is only one screen and the information can be described as compact and encyclopaedic.

The third level is the actual information and it contains 5 - 30 pages of text with photos, drawings, statistics, sounds etc. All contents are hypertext and all photos can be enlarged. For researchers and students the old documents are being converted into PDFs.

The technical planning of the information system is carried out in co-operation with Tampere University of Technology. The museum pedagogy gives excellent research opportunities for the University of Turku. The Department of Teacher Education in Rauma is located next door to the Maritime Museum.

Also a special annual admission card will be launched. The additional price for the card compared to the normal admission fee is minimal and now the use of museum facilities is unlimited. The Museum calculates that the annual card encourages people to make more visits and the museum pedagogy works more efficiently when the customers can return anytime without paying the admission fee. It is quite a worn-out cliché, but the Rauma Maritime really tries to make the customers feel at home.

Research work

During the renovation of the building - a separate room for 1- 2 researchers was built. In the maritime museum's concept there are no plans to employ researchers on the museum´s pay roll. The Museum will help the researchers to apply for funding and give all possible help and infrastructure. The research work will therefore have an important role in the museum's operation model, but will not put any permanent stress on finances.

The most important research area will be the seaman's life. Seafaring has changed very much during the last decades and the life of poor Jack has been in such a state of change that we can compare the period of transition. There is very little research carried out in this field, the Museum will start large interview campaigns and is continuously transferring private photograph collections into modern electronic storage systems.