The National Museum of the Republic of Karelia occupies a fine early 20th-century building in the city centre and covers the history, ethnography, and natural history of this distinctive region. Karelia has belonged to Finland, Sweden, and Russia at various points in its history, and the museum does a thoughtful job of presenting this complexity without oversimplifying it.
The collections of traditional Karelian crafts — embroidery, carved wooden objects, and birch-bark work — are genuinely beautiful, and the displays on the region's unique folk traditions give useful context for anyone planning to explore the countryside. Explanatory materials are mostly in Russian, so bring a translation app if you don't read the language.