CLOSED: Sentiment and Memory in Rolando and Siv Pieraccini’s Collection “Great Finns”

Great Finns is a significant, topical donated collection by Rolando and Siv Pieraccini containing around 7,000 separate documents covering a period of 400 years. Approximately 450 documents connected with figures who have had an influence in society and been active in the various fields of culture and society in the areas of Finland are exhibited in the pop up exhibition space of The National Museum of Finland.

The exhibition presents select stories and interpretations. It examines people at the crossing of cultures and what the documents in the collection tell us about the fabric of human life, its turning points, about love and death. Correspondence between General of the Finnish Guards' Rifle Battalion Anders Edvard Ramsay in St. Petersburg and his betrothed Constance Vilhelmina Reuterskiöld as well as between a young J. K. Paasikivi and Anna Forsman are on display. The collection of poetry manuscripts includes melancholic works by L. Onerva from the 1940s. The exhibition also focuses on work and people as active agents in society. The collection contains an exceptionally large body of material on statesman C. G. Mannerheim, who is also featured in the exhibition. The numerous autographed photographs of actors, ballet dancers, athletes and opera singers speak to a culture of admiration and collecting.

Great Finns is an exceptional collection that Rolando Pieraccini has dedicated decades of his life to. Rolando Pieraccini is an active and versatile figure in the fields of art and culture: a publisher, bibliophile, collector and a patron of arts. Born in Italy, Pieraccini has lived in Finland since 1975 and donated sizable art collections to museums in Finland and abroad.

Admission to the Sentiment and Memory exhibition in the pop up space is free of charge.