It was, for example, a means to gather funds for war invalids and their families, to show how it was to fight on Finnish side at the front, and to lift up morale among citizens.

[5] 1944 was the year of the foundation of Sotamuistoyhdistys, later to be named Suomen sotahistoriallinen seura (The Association for Military History in Finland).

After the war, the Military Museum had to manage without exhibition halls for a short period of time.

The exhibition showed Finnish naval defence during her independence era but in the end it didn't last long.

Museum was ordered to close in 1963 due to high moisture and didn't manage to find new exhibition hall.

One exhibit area is dedicated to Finnish war hero Lauri Törni, who received the Mannerheim Cross.

Vesikko is a Finnish submarine built in 1933 that served in the second World War in the Gulf of Finland, now on the summer time exhibition in Suomenlinna.

Vesikko managed to destroy one enemy transport ship as it sank Soviet Vyborg July 3, 1941 near Suursaari.

The state planned to sell it in 1959 but thanks to the ex-submariners' strong lobbying, the submarine was once again saved and transported from Katajanokka to Suomenlinna in the early 1960s.

The original exhibition consisted mainly of heavy weapons from Finnish wars against Soviet Union in 1939–1944.

The Manege's collections include e.g. a German 88mm Flak 37 Anti-Aircraft gun and British Vickers-Armstrong 38 light tank.

The exhibition continues in the adjacent building, telling the story of Finnish Defence Forces in the post-war period up to the present day The Manege was built in 1880–1881, in a time when Finland was still part of the Russian Empire.

In the beginning of 1890s places for an orchestra, a stage and dressing rooms for both women and men were built in the end of the main hall.

After the Civil War the Manege has primarily served as storage facility for the Finnish Navy and from 1974 onwards for the Military Museum.

Anyhow, the main hall has occasionally served as a movie theatre and during the Continuation War it was also used as a basketball court.

Many residents of the sea fortress were suspicious about this at first because they feared the Military Museum would use residential buildings as exhibition space.

[12] There have been several different exhibitions during the years in the Manege and the ongoing From Autonomy to Atalanta-exhibition covers Finnish military history from early 19th century until the present day.

However, a signal dugout and British Vickers-Armstrong tank, which was used in Winter and Continuation Wars, have been a permanent part of the exhibitions in the Manege.

The artefacts on display in From Autonomy to Atalanta- exhibition vary in branch: anti-aircraft defence is represented with an RMB anti-aircraft gun, field artillery with a 76K/02 cannon and Navy with a Soviet T-46 torpedo and a Somali pirate boat which was taken over by minelayer Pohjanmaa during the Atalanta-operation.

The relevance of supply in warfare is demonstrated with a field kitchen unit moved by horses, as well as with an American Ford V8-truck.

Originally the tube is from Imperial Russia's torpedo boat Bditelnyi, which sank after hitting a sea mine in November 1917.

The exhibition continues in the adjacent building, telling the story of Finnish Defence Forces in the post-war period up to the present day At the moment there are eight special military museums in Finland, which operate under the Military Museum's supervision.

Due to limited resources and lack of exhibition halls, historical military collections have been divided to special arms museums.

Especially the growing amount of collections in different army units has resulted in the founding of specialized military museums.