Stage sets -Theatre history of Kristinestad

During the latter half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Kristinestad enjoyed a flourishing theater scene. The amateur actors of the Dramatic Society (Dramatiska föreningen) had a very ambitious program. At the Kristinestad Town Hall, they often performed the same plays that could be seen on the capital’s stages. Many of the actors belonged to the city’s leading social circles. The society commissioned stage sets from the country’s foremost scenic painter, the Dane Peder Knudsen in Helsinki, who is also known as a visual artist. The society’s activities ceased in the 1930s, but the set pieces remains in the possession of the municipality and are now being exhibited for the first time in 100 years.