Carlsro

In Carlsro, one can sense how the gentry lived in the summertime at the turn of the 20th century, how the house was used as a hotel in the 20th century and how a collector’s vision for preserving local history can be formed.

Carlsro was unoccupied from 1945 until the 1960s, when Åke Weckström from Kristiinankaupunki bought the villa. In Weckström's collection, there are around 11 000 objects from the period reaching from the 17th to the 20th century reflecting the history of Kristinestad and its inhabitants. The goldsmith’s workshop and the pharmacy’s furniture are examples of preserved entities, and they are on display in the old salons and bedrooms of the gentry.

Weckström did not abide by any strictly defined collecting principle or method. The items tell about seafaring through paintings, pictures and exotic souvenirs, about spiritual life through motif paintings, old Bibles and sculptures, about women’s fashion through a beautiful collection of textiles, and about everyday chores through diverse equipment, tools and weapons.

The rooms are furnished in art nouveau style antique furniture and faience and porcelain tile stoves. The museum offers not only one picture or view of the city’s history, but the objects create a kaleidoscope of history and the Carlsro Museum.