Christmas in Milavida

While hubby was in barber I visited Museum Milavida's Christmas exhibition. Museum Milavida tell's the story of the Nottbeck family and in Christmas time they also show how upper class celebrated Christmas in 19th century. The story of Nottbeck's begins in 1836 when three businessmen from St Petersburg buy a small cotton spinning mill in Tampere. The 20-year-old Wilhelm von Nottbeck is sent there to learn factory management. 

The exhibition presents the glamorous and international lifestyle of the Nottbeck family, the owners of Finlayson cotton mill. The Nottbecks lived in Tampere from the 1830s until the early 20th century when the last members of the family leave the city after years filled with both success and sad losses. The enthralling exhibition combines impressive authentic objects and modern audiovisual technology.

In the picture is Peter, one of Wilhelm von Nottbeck's seven sons, and his wife Olga. They built the Milavida mansion, but the building wasn't finished yet, when Olga died in Baden-Baden, when she gave birth to their twins. Soon after Peter died in Paris because of appendicitis. Their four orphan children (Iris (1895), Andrée (1897) and twins Alfred and Olga (1898) owned the Milavida mansion in Tampere and they lived there three years with their servants (see the extra). Milavida was sold to the city of Tampere in 1905 and children moved abroad with their relatives. 


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