Lappeenranta Museums are run by the City of Lappeenranta. The museums are the South Karelia Museum, the Cavalry Museum and the Lappeenranta Art Museum that rae located in the Fortress of Lappeenranta, in the old barracks and warehouses along Kristiinankatu. Over the decades these buildings, which date back to the Russian period, have been slowly refurbished to serve as Museums. The Wolkoff House Museum is located outside the Fortress in the city centre, along Kauppakatu.

South Karelia Museum is the regional Museum of South Karelia in the Finnish network of Regional Museums. The museum is housed in the solid grey-stone buildings of the former artillery depot which were completed at the beginning of the 19th century. Founded by the Maakuntaliitto (Regional Municipal Association) in 1963, this museum was the successor to the so called Town Museum of Lappeenranta. In 1968 the museum was handed over to the town of Lappeenranta. 

The collections of this museum of cultural history are drawn from the museums of Lappeenranta, Vyborg and Käkisalmi (Priozersk). The museum’s work of preservation and recording, research and display encompasses not only the present-day region of South Karelia but also the southern part of Karelia which was ceded to Russia, i.e. the Karelian Isthmus. 

The permanent exhibition, ”On the Border”, is about the location of Lappeenranta between East and West. ”Three Karelian Towns” presents the essential phases in the history of Lappeenranta, Vyborg and Käkisalmi (Priozersk). Lappeenranta is well suited for presenting these towns, since their history contains many similarities and along with local culture the town has fostered the intellectual and material cultural heritage of the Karelian Isthmus. One of the main attractions of the permanent exhibition is the scale model of the town of Vyborg, which features the town as it was at midday on 2nd September 1939: here we see the inhabitants, cars, trams, ships and trains, all going about their everyday business. The total surface of the model is 24 square metres, and it covers the area from Patterinmäki to Siikaniemi and from Havi to Papula. 

Apart from the permanent exhibition the museum stages temporary exhibitions on various themes. The exhibitions and events try to take different groups of visitors into consideration. For the children there is a tour of the permanent exhibition and a play corner in the museum. 

Founded in 1965, the Lappeenranta Art Museum initially occupied the same premises as the South Karelia Museum at the northern tip of the Lappeenranta Fortress. In the 1980s, the Art Museum moved to its present site in the neoclassic-style barracks (built in 1798), opposite the Orthodox Church. In 1986, the Art Museum became the Regional Art Museum of South-East Finland.

The museum is home to a collection of Finnish art from the mid-19th century to the present day. The museum’s largest single collection of old Finnish art was accumulated by Viipurin Taiteenystävät ry (Vyborg Friends of Art); this collection includes works by many well-known artists such as Albert Edelfelt, Pekka Halonen, Tyko Sallinen, Hjalmar Munsterhjelm and Eero Järnefelt. The collection has paintings by artists who were active in Vyborg or were born there. The contemporary art collections on the other hand focus in particular on art from south-east Finland. 

Every year, the Art Museum also stages between three and four temporary exhibitions which feature both the latest trends in the world of art and works representing earlier periods in the history of art. 

The Cavalry Museum is housed in the former guardhouse of the Lappeenranta fortifications, and dates from the 1770’s. The museum was opened in 1973. In the Cavalry Museum you can experience the fire of the fierce Hackapelites and succumb to the charm of the red-panted dragoons. The Cavalry belonged to the Lappeenranta street scene from the 1880’s, when a garrison was built for the Finninsh Dragoon Regiment. Uniforms, weapons and numerous documents give a colourful picture of town and garrison life.

Lappeenranta garrison was constructed during the 1890’s, and was perhaps in its time the best garrison facility in the Russian Empire. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, both the Uusimaa (Nyland) Regiment of Dragoons and the Häme (Tavastland) Regiment of Cavalry were stationed in Lappeenranta garrison.

At the moment the Cavalry Museum is closed because of renovations.

The Wolkoff House Museum is located at Kauppakatu Street, in the centre of Lappeenranta close to the Town Hall. This merchant house is one of the oldest remaining wooden buildings in Lappeenranta. The house was constructed in stages between 1826 and 1905, the oldest section being built by Merchant Claudelin. The plot of land had been owned by many different merchants prior to its acquisition by merchant Ivan Wolkoff in 1872. Subsequently the house was inhabited by four generations of the Wolkoff family until 1983.