Cultural Day: Sámi Museum and Tankavaara Gold Village

General information

Destination
Lapland, Finland

Program details

You will depart from Rovaniemi, n a cultural and historical adventure to Northern Lapland. The Tankavaara Gold Village and the Siida Sámi museum are two of the most important sites related to the Lappish Heritage and Sami Culture.



The first stop of this tour will be at Tankavaara Gold Village, the gate of Lapland’s goldfields which is located in Sodankylä, 230 km north from Rovaniemi. Gold prospectors have taught visitors to pan gold for more than 40 years in Tankavaara!



At the gold panning site, you will receive rubber boots (if needed) and gold panning equipment. Then the fun can begin! The guide will show where you, where you can shovel some sand into your gold pan and demonstrate how to separate gold from the sand in the gold panning pool. If you follow the guide’s instructions carefully and take your time learning, you might find tiny gold specks or even a bigger nugget to take home with you! During one hour you usually have plenty of time to wash about two to three pan-fulls of sand and maybe even get addicted to panning like so many other visitors and future gold prospectors in Tankavaara. Buffet lunch is included after the gold panning experience!



After lunch, it is time to depart to the Sámi Museum and Nature Centre Siida is located in the town of Inari, in the Sámi Homeland. The main exhibitions will tell you about Sámi history, the area’s natural history and events that have impacted mankind in the form of a timeline from the Ice Age to 1998, when the Sámi Museum and Nature Centre Siida opened. Visitors to the exhibition can also learn how the Sámi languages are related to one another and whether they are threatened. You will also see display cases with archaeological finds shows artifacts that have been found on our grounds. On the other hand, the Siida’s Open-Air Museum showcases the cultural heritage, architectural heritage and livelihoods of the Finnish Sámi. The Open-Air Museum has much to show! The area has nearly fifty buildings and structures grouped by cultural areas and the nature of their use along an 800 meter-long trail in the shape of a reindeer herder’s lasso. The trail includes exhibits on the cultural heritage, architectural heritage and livelihoods of Finland’s three Sámi cultures!



After this great cultural and historic visit you will be driven back to Rovaniemi!