The Museum of Central Finland (Keski-Suomen museo) sits beside the Alvar Aalto Museum, forming a small cultural campus on the edge of the university area. Its collections cover the history and culture of the Central Finland region, from prehistoric settlements around the lakes through to the industrialisation of the 20th century and the social changes of recent decades.
The museum is particularly strong on the rural history of Finland's interior — the lake fishing traditions, farmstead life, and the dramatic shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy that happened across this region in the 20th century. The building dates from 1961 and has been expanded over the years; it is not architecturally notable but the collections are solid and the labelling is good in both Finnish and English.