Vellamo Maritime Centre stands out in Kotka harbour

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By Hannu Pöppönen
     
      A textile store in the style of decades past has been set up in the dark exhibition area. Under the glass counter there are sheets of metal snaps, and on the wall there are racks of spools of thread.
      “Just like Mama’s store”, says an excited Tarja Seppälä next to the display case.
      She has praise for the Vellamo Maritime Centre, which was opened a month ago, calling it a magnificent, diverse, and modern building.
     
Seppälä is not the only one to be excited about it. It is only a short time after 11 in the morning, but visitors are flowing into Vellamo at an even pace. There is even a queue to the ticket booth. By last weekend, 30,000 visitors had walked up Vellamo’s impressive wooden steps. This year’s goal is 50,000 visitors, which is expected to be exceeded well before the end of the year.
     
The centre is conspicuously present in Kotka harbour. Its metal and glass front glistens in the morning like the surface of water, and in the dark, the Vellamo, built in the shape of a massive wave, can be seen illuminated.
     Kotka is rapidly getting its own Bilbao phenomenon. The architect, Ilmari Lahdelma, says that writers from foreign architectural publications are already visiting the building.
     Vellamo will get even wider international attention at the Architecture Biennale in Venice, where it will be featured at the exhibition at the Finnish pavilion.
     
So far, the building itself has attracted more attention than the exhibitions that have been set up there.
      Saari Maaskola, head of marketing at Vellamo, says that the slightly drawn-out schedule means that the exhibitions were compiled in just three months.
     Objects on display lack texts, and in the impressive central area, the high boat hall, there is little information about the boats. In addition, the selection in the about the boats is fairly small, considering the size of the whole maritime museum.
     Some visitors have also felt that the exhibitions have been confusing. The exhibitions do not proceed chronologically; instead, they are organised thematically, which tends to detract from the museum atmosphere.
     For the architect, it’s a big building. How else it is big, only time will tell”, says Raimo Luoto of Karhula. He feels that Vellamo is a magnificent place, both from the inside and the outside.
     
As far as providing great experiences goes, when comparing of the two museums housed in the building, the Maritime Museum and the Kymenlaakso Museum, the latter actually comes out the winner, with its everyday objects that spark memories, even though its point of view is Kotka and the Kymi River region.
     One does not often realise how many artists are from the region.
     A wax figure of author Toivo Pekkanen stares from behind the glass wall, as I listen on the museum jukebox to a song by a Hamina native, rock singer Pelle Miljoona. Other artists featured in the jukebox include Juha Vainio, Peer Günt, Egotrippi, Harmony Sisters...
     Also in the display cases it is possible to see glass works of Aino Aalto from Karhula, as well as the well-worn short of football player Arto Tolsa.
     However, the Maritime Museum also has plenty of interesting objects and films, such as a documentary, which shows the arrival of the first postwar coffee shipment to Finland from Brazil in 1946. Three ministers and the governor of the Bank of Finland were on hand to meet the ship.
     
At the moment, the Maritime Centre Vellamo stands in Kotka harbour, accompanied by a few protected cranes. Plans are to set up a culture harbour next to it, possibly including an arena with a capacity for 3,000 spectators, a spa, and a hotel - as well as a possible expansion of the centre. Ilmari Lahdelma has already visualised these with his working group.
     Time will tell if the activities of the buildings that might possibly rise in the area will support the magnificent appearance and mission of Vellamo in the harbour area.
     Or will the area lose its rugged character and turn into a characterless Disney-type entertainment centre?
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.8.2008


Links:
  Maritime Centre Vellamo

HANNU PÖPPÖNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
hannu.popponen@hs.fi