Kerava Things to Do

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Visit Kerava Manor and its art exhibitions (open in summertime only!). You can have some coffee and a bite to eat at the cafe and, if the weather is nice, you can enjoy the garden terrace. The history of the manor dates back to the 16th century. The present main building was built in 1810 and is said to be haunted.
You might be surprised to see the wood behind the manor for it's left wild. There's a reason for this: it's a bird park - kind of nesting sancutary - see my tip on this.

In the middle of the Kauppakaari Promenade at Keskusaukio (central square), you can see this grey granit statue. It was placed here 1982, it's called "Sun and wind" and it's by Heikki Haivaoja, the sculptor. Originally, there was also the element of water involved. I distinctly remember trickles of water running from the middle, but they have discontinued that. This statue has been dry for years. I wonder why...

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When in Kerava, you might come across this statue and wonder who this guy is. Well, I'm going to tell you. He's Volmari Iso-Hollo (1908-1969), nicknamed Vomma. Finnish runner who won two successive gold medals in the Olympic Games for the 3000-metre steeplechase (1932 Los Angeles, 1936 Berlin). In addition, he won Olympic silver in '32 and bronze in '36 for 10,000-metre run. He also wrote a runner's guide book and some of his training instructions are still valid today.
Iso-Hollo lived and worked in Kerava all his life and this statue was erected in his honor 1994. It's of bronze and by Erkki Kannosto.

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This is just another example of how a mundane thing like pedestrian passage can be designed. It could have been made of plain concrete all grey and uninteresting. But this is Kerava, remember? There are colourful painted details and details in granite on the walls and columns and what not.

There's a rondell in the middle of the passage with benches and if you look up, you'll see a row of paintings. They are by Alpo Jaakola and called Huovintie's history from 900 to 1990. They seem to be painted on planks of wood much like a picket fence. And thats right, professor Jaakola was having a strong creative period but ran temporarily out of canvas so he painted on his fence.

People passing by everyday hardly take any notice. So sad...

Are you interested in ghosts? Here's a couple of stories for you:

In 1655 the then owner of Kerava Manor, Captain Fredrik Joakimsson Stahlhielm went to war together with his seven horsemen and none of them ever returned. His wife lost everything and died unhappy and destituted in 1665. Her restless soul is ever since wandering the halls of the manor. She is called Harmaa-Muija (the grey woman) and she is said to have a desperate, empty gaze and she's wringing her hands in despair. She is said to walk through the walls.

The second ghost is a more aggressive one, named Kiikar-Jussi. He was a worker at the manor and died in early 19th century. The carriers of his coffin were drunk and dropped the coffin so that the corpse fell out. That's why Kiikar-Jussi is furious and is said to throw objects and chase people around. People were really scared of him still in the 1930's and it was difficult to get workforce to the manor.

The history of Kerava Manor is full of sad stories of human suffering. For instance, the buildings have burnt down several times. So maybe there are even more ghosts around...

Today, students of Laurea are keeping a summer cafe at the Manor and they say that even though they have never seen any ghosts, they sometimes hear strange creeking sounds in the evenings.

A ghost night for the whole family is arranged at Kerava Manor on friday 31.8.2007 at 18-21

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There are good possibilities to go for a relaxing walk at Kerava for the network of footpaths criss-crosses around the whole town. There are both paved, gravel and natural paths. Here you have some pictures: a few summer, one autumn and one spring pic. In the wintertime, most paths in the woods are skiing tracks and then you should not go there tramping and spoiling the tracks so as not to upset anybody. Some people can take such an "offense" very seriously.

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This building is actually a college, but they have a good hall for shows, concerts and stuff like that. Also some conferences have been arranged here from time to time. It's centrally located opposite the library so it's rather easy to find.

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Kerava church (Evangelic-Lutheran), designed by Ahti Korhonen, was built 1963 and it is a typical representative of that time's Finnish architecture of simplified functional spaces which create a peaceful atmosphere of silent worship. However, I'm not too impressed by this shoe box style.