Hertonäs Manor as a Museum for Professor Topelius 1925-1958

In January 1924 the society Svenska Odlingens Vänner i Helsinge, who has managed Hertonäs Manor from 1919, took contact with Zachris Topelius’s relatives to create an exhibition about the famous writer. Topelius’s grandchild, Paul Nyberg, was new curator for the museum and together with Eva Topelius Acke he started to build the exhibition. The relatives gave their blessing and the society could apply for loans of objects related to Topelius from the National Museum of Finland. In May 1925 the loans were approved and Topelius’s study, bedroom and library could be built in the museum. Nyberg also wrote a brochure about the exhibition, Vägledning för besökande i Topeliusrummen (1926), and the museum was open to the public on Thursdays and Sundays from September 1925 onwards. During the first year circa 3 000 persons visited the museum. 

The main building of Hertonäs Manor was a museum over the writer Topelius from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. A library was set on the 1st floor of the exhibition. Photo: SOV.

The museum got attention in the press both in Finnish and in Swedish. Still some of the objects are present in the current exhibition, among others a bust and a suite of furniture. The present exhibition at Hertonäs Manor present the lives of the Cronstedt family (in the 2nd floor) and the Bergbom family (in the 1:st floor). It was built in the 1990’s.

The suite of furniture in the red room belonged to the family Topelus, and is still exhibited in the 1st floor of the museum. Photo: Sakari Kiuru, SOV.

Sources:
Backman, Sigbritt 2017: Hertonäs gård - från säterier till museum. SOV: Helsingfors. 
Backman, Sigbritt 2013: Tidsresa med Svenska Odlingens Vänner i Helsinge. SOV: Helsingfors.
Nyberg, Paul 1926: Hertonäs museum. Vägledning för besökande i  Topeliusrummen. SOV: Helsingfors.