The Scent of Pine Tar and the Clangor of Hammers: Photographs of the Preservation Work in the Viapori Shipyard

Photography exhibition that presents the preservation of traditional sailing ship in the shipyard Viapori in Suomenlinna.

The shipyard Viapori, built in the 1750s in Suomenlinna, is Finland’s and Europe’s oldest active dry dock. Today it is used to repair and preserve traditional sailing ships under the supervision of the association Viaporin telakka. When the sailing season ends in the autumn, the ships return to the dock and are repaired during the winter.

Photographer Björn Elmgren has documented the preservation work done in Viapori since 2018. This exhibition details the history of these sailing ships and the different repairs they require with the help of photographs. For this project, Elmgren has used black and white film. There will also be traditional tools on display.