The Parola Armour Museum

The Armour Museum in Parola is maintained by Panssarikilta r.y. (The Finnish Armour Guild), a voluntary defense organisation with about 3000 members. The main purpose of the Guild is to promote and preserve the military tradition of the tank troops and the armoured artillery. The Guild also publishes the «Panssari»-magazine, a leading publication for tank-men of all ages since the year 1952. In those days, the association was called «The Tank Troops Supportive Organisation», a name which soon was exchanged for the more colloquial Panssarikilta, i.e. The Armour Guild. The Museum is financed solely by the ticket income. It does not receive any support from the government or other public organisations whatsoever. Due to this inconvenience, the Museum can be held open only during the summer months, and most of the exhibits have to be kept in open-air. A substantial part of the special exhibitions that would feature history of actions and deeds of the armoured troops are therefore unfortunately impossible to arrange. The Armour Museum at Parola was opened on June 18, 1961. It strives to describe the Finnish Tank Troops and their activities in war and peace-time, exhibiting equipment and vehicles. The Armour Museum at Parola is unique throughout the world through its valuable collection of German and Russian tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles - all of which , with some few exceptions, have served with the Finnish Army.