Finnish Labour Museum Werstas

At the former Finlayson cotton factory, now stands Finland’s largest free museum. At Werstas, you can explore numerous rotating exhibitions of the Finnish Labour Museum, as well as the Industry Museum and the Steam Engine Museum.

The main exhibition, “United”, tells stories of working-class history from the perspective of ordinary people, spanning from the 19th century to today. In the Industry Museum, you can dive into the over 200-year history of industry in Tampere. The exhibition illustrates how Tampere grew during the 19th century to become Finland’s largest industrial city—“the Manchester of Finland.”

The Steam Engine Museum showcases the massive Sulzer steam engine that once powered the Finlayson cotton factory. This Swiss-made mechanical giant, over 120 years old, still rests in its original location, now preserved as a museum exhibit. It is the largest steam engine ever used in Finland, boasting 1,650 horsepower and a flywheel with a diameter of over 8 meters.

Be sure to stop by Werstas’ excellent museum shop for souvenirs. The wide selection includes unique and high-quality items, ranging from “Slave of Labour” mugs to black sausage socks. Werstas also offers comfortable meeting and event spaces for gatherings of all kinds.

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Työväenmuseo Werstas
Väinö Linnan aukio 8
33210 Tampere

Highlights

The Museum is located at the old factory hall of Finlayson factory.

Oldest building within the Finlayson area.

History

The Finlayson factory was founded in 1820, when Scottish businessman James Finlayson arrived in Tampere. At that time, Tampere had fewer than 1,000 residents and resembled a small rural village. Finlayson’s original idea was to start a company manufacturing spinning machines, but after facing bankruptcy, he began spinning yarn himself—thus laying the foundation for Finland’s textile industry.

James Finlayson himself wasn’t particularly gifted in business, and in 1836, he sold the factory to Russian businessmen from St. Petersburg. Under the new ownership, the factory began to expand. The city of Tampere grew around the Finlayson factory, and its influence was significant—not only for the city’s development but for Finnish society as a whole.

None of the buildings from James Finlayson’s time have survived. The oldest existing structure in the factory area is Kuusvooninkinen, completed in 1837. The last factory buildings were constructed in the 1960s. The former factory courtyard is now Väinö Linna Square, named after the celebrated author who worked at the Finlayson factory in the mid-1900s and is likely one of its most famous former employees. Until the 1920s, Finlayson was the largest industrial site in the Nordic countries, with up to 3,000 employees working there at its peak.

In the 1990s, the rise of free markets and cheap imports put pressure on domestic textile production, leading to the end of operations at the Finlayson factory. By the early 1990s, all industrial activity had ceased at the site, and a new future for the area began to take shape. The Museum of Finnish Labour opened its doors to the public in the old factory buildings in November 1993. Initially modest, the museum moved in 2001 to its current modern facilities in the former yarn dyeing plant, newly renovated for museum use along Väinö Linna Square, and was renamed The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas. Since then, it has grown into a fascinating and successful museum center. The Steam Engine Museum was added to Werstas in 2002, and the Industry Museum opened in collaboration with Vapriikki in 2021.

Today, the Finlayson area is once again a vibrant community, home to numerous businesses, restaurants, art galleries, two museums, and a hotel.