The museum's function comprise the coastline and northern area of the former Vaasa province. The collections relate to both peasant and upper-class culture, the history of the town of Vaasa and Ostrobothnia. There are for example the coin collection of Mauritz Hallberg, the Hedman collection of visual and industrial art from different countries, mostly Dutch and Italian, the oldest dating from the 15th century. The Finnish art collection is from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Terranova-Kvarkens Nature Centre is also located to the same building. It exhibits fauna and geology of the Kvarken area, the landrising and the ice age, information in nature tourism and contacts also information in the Forest and Park Services, virtual aquarium, natural history collections of Ostrobotnia Australis, Wildlife Nature Film Festivals.
Manarola is a small town, a frazione of the comune of Riomaggiore. It is the second-smallest of the famous Cinque Terre towns frequented by tourists, with a population of 353.
Manarola may be the oldest of the towns in the Cinque Terre, with the cornerstone of the church, San Lorenzo, dating from 1338. The local dialect is Manarolese, which is marginally different from the dialects in the nearby area. The name 'Manarola' is probably a dialectical evolution of the Latin, 'magna rota'. In the Manarolese dialect this was changed to 'magna roea' which means 'large wheel', in reference to the mill wheel in the town.
Manarola's primary industries have traditionally been fishing and wine-making. The local wine, called Sciacchetrà, is especially renowned; references from Roman writings mention the high quality of the wine produced in the region.