On the way to Poorvo we also briefly stopped in Kotla, to admire the building of the local Maritime museum, called Vellamo, which is supposed to represent a wave of steel and glass. Weather had turned ugly again, so pictures are poor, but the building in indeed a tribute to architectural ingenuity. With from one … Read more
The Salpa Line is a string of defensive fortifications built by the Finnish army after having lost their first war against the Soviet Union, the Winter War of 1939-1940. In this war Finland ceded quite a bit of territory, mostly Karelia, which included their border fortifications. This new defence system was to protect against a … Read more
At the far end of the Saima Lake Lappeenranta is barely 25 km from the Russian border, and somehow the town feels more Russian than any other town we have so far seen in Finland. Broad, empty roads, lined with the ubiquitous apartment buildings. Not as destitute as we have observed in so many ex-Soviet … Read more
If Finland is the land of lakes and forest, today we have seen Finland. Half an hour outside Savonlinna is the Punkaharju area, where we are driving across a narrow land tongue, or perhaps it is an artificial dam, with lakes on both sides. It is quite nice weather, which helps appreciating the landscape – … Read more
There are more paintings to be seen in Finland, but of another nature. Before I came to Finland I had no idea that they have rock art here, paintings executed on rock faces perhaps 5000 years ago. Something I have enjoyed all over the world, from Somalia to Southern Africa and India, so obviously something … Read more
The Gösta Serlachius Museum, in Mantta, is heralded as the best art museum in Finland. Started as a private collection by the papermill owning industrialist Serlachius family over a century ago, the first museum opened in 1945, I suppose in the manor house that still forms the heart of the museum. In 2014 a new … Read more
We have already seen a few curious churches, amongst them the dug-out Temppeliaukio Kirkko in Helsinki and the spectacularly modern-design St. Henry’s Ecumenical chapel outside Turko. But now we are in for some more traditional countryside churches, as well as the fabulous cathedral in Tampere, taking us back to the Art Nouveau era. First, just … Read more
Where we had just seen the ‘wooden houses museum’ in Turku, a group of well preserved and well protected over 200 year old wooden houses, Rauma has the real thing. The centre of the old town is entirely made up of wooden houses, still being used, as residences and as shops and restaurants. Most are … Read more
We probably could have spent another day in Helsinki, there are lots of other places to admire, too. But the weather forecast for Turku, in the west of the country, was much better. And Turku is only two hours away. The reason to come to Turku is the ‘wooden houses’ museum, also called Luostarinmaki (you … Read more
For most of its history, Finland was dominated by its neighbours. In the 12th Century the Swedes invaded Finland, in part out of religious considerations: the earliest Christian influences came from the east, and can be found back in Russian Orthodox burials. The Swedes, staunch Roman Catholics, considered their first incursions as crusades, in 1157 … Read more