80 years of Moomin – Explore the places that inspired Moominvalley
2025 marks 80 years of Moomin stories. Explore some of the places from Tove Jansson’s childhood that inspired the Moomin universe.
The Finnish archipelago was Tove Jansson’s habitat. She spent her summers among the islets and skerries from an early age. The sea, the rugged cliffs, the trees with all the endless possibilities for building huts, and the open horizon were her spiritual landscapes.
The islands of the archipelago became important sources of inspiration that crept into the world she created in the Moomin stories.
The bay and the cave
The image to the right shows one of the bays in Pellinge where Tove Jansson spent her childhood summers. The photograph was taken from the air when Tove Jansson’s brother, photographer Per Olov Jansson, had the opportunity to fly over the bay with pilot Börje Hielm.
The image to the left is a map of Moominvalley from the book Finn Family Moomintroll.
In one of the bays in Pellinge where Tove Jansson played as a child, there is a place that tickled her imagination – a cave in the bedrock. The grotto was an invitation to countless adventures.
“There are five bays where no one lives. Once you’ve been round the first you have to go into the second. The first is wide and full of white sand. It has a grotto with a sandy floor. The walls are always wet and there is a narrow opening in the roof. The grotto is longer than I am when I lie on my back and today it is icy cold. There is a narrow black hole right inside.“
Sculptor’s Daughter, 1968
The cave in Pellinge has most probably inspired the cave in Moominvalley, the one discovered by Sniff.
“Sniff saw that it was a cave, a real cave, such as he had always dreamed of finding.”
It is in the cave that the Moomins seek shelter from the oncoming comet in one of the first Moomin stories, Comet in Moominland. The Moomins make sure that none of their friends and acquaintances are left outside as they pack up their most treasured possessions to barricade themselves in the cave, and everyone helps to make it as comet-proof as possible.
Moominmamma made beds for them all on the soft sandy floor of the cave and lit the lamp, while Snufkin hung a blanket up in front of the door. “Do you think that will be enough protection?” asked Moomintroll.
Comet in Moominland, 1946
The Glosholm lighthouse inspired the Moominhouse
The Jansson family loved to go on excursions in the archipelago, which is reflected in the Moomin family’s sense of adventure and their playful exploration of their surroundings.
Lighthouses fascinated the young Tove Jansson. One of the lighthouses she visited during summer excursions with her family was the Glosholm Lighthouse in the Pellinge archipelago. It was built high with small windows and a ramshackle staircase that led up to the light. As a child, Tove was allowed to explore it, climbing high up in the tower.
The feeling of escalating the winding stairs is mirrored in Moominpappa at Sea, where the Moomin family climbs up the lighthouse for the first time:
“With what seemed like an awful effort, the staircase climbed up and up in smaller and smaller spirals, creaking and groaning as Moominpappa went up it.”
Moominpappa at Sea, 1965
The Glosholm lighthouse tower was destroyed during the war, but that very shape probably inspired the long, narrow silhouette of the Moominhouse.
In the first Moomin story, The Moomins and the Great Flood from 1945, the Moominhouse is described in the following terms:
”And there, in the midst of the meadow, stood a house that almost looked like a tall stove, very elegant and painted blue”
But before the Moomin family can settle down in the Moominhouse, they have ventured far and about in a flooded landscape, separated from each other and without a home.
Penned by Tove Jansson during WWII as a fairytale to comfort herself during dark times, The Moomins and the Great Flood mirrors the realities of millions of displaced people seeking refuge. The story follows Moominmamma and Moomintroll’s quest to find a new home and the missing Moominpappa. During one of the desolate evenings under the bare sky, Moominmamma tells Moomintroll and Sniff about how Moomintrolls used to live in the early days:
“In those days they lived together with the house-trolls in people’s houses, mostly behind their tall stoves. “Some of us still live there now, I’m sure,” said Moominmamma. “But only where people still have stoves, I mean. We’re not happy with central heating.”
The first Moomin story and its 80th anniversary will be celebrated throughout 2025 with various events, publications, and activations, like the My Moominhouse competition, in which Moomin fans are invited to build their own interpretation of the Moominhouse.
Read more about the Moomin 80 anniversary year here.