January - March 2020

EHRENSVÄRD MUSEUM

The Ehrensvärd Museum is the former residence of the founder of Suomenlinna fortress, which today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. His residence dating back to the 1760’s has been turned into a house museum, displaying beautiful interiors, furniture and paintings of the 18th century. I was employed on this project by Restaurointimaalaus MIMOS Oy, to restore the interior damages on walls, ceilings and door frames of the museum.

The 18th century building is made of brick and stone structure, which experiences a lot of structural movement due to moisture in the outdoor environment. Also seasonal changes in humidity affects the indoor climate of the building. This had caused the inner surface layers to crack, create hollows and bulges. My colleague Elina Remmler and I worked through 10 rooms of the museum to restore collapsing surface layers, grout hollows and patch paint the restored spots. The bigger damages were fixed with mortar, while the smaller ones were fixed with putty. 

The project taught me restoration process planning and time management, as my colleague and I were responsible for executing the entire project. I also enhanced my skills in identifying colour shades and tinting paints with pigments for retouching.