Kajaani Things to Do

Kajaani Art Museum is located in a building that originally used to serve as a police station. The one and only cell downstairs has been preserved as it was in its original condition and may also be used to accommodate exhibits. A fenced yard outside its northern wing leads to the old Town Hall. The building was designed by architect Eino Pitkänen and it was completed in 1936 in pure functionalist style. In 1993, the police moved to another location and the art museum was established.

The exhibition space is over two floors and provide altogether 300m2 of exhibition space. Each year, the museum arranges approximately five changing exhibitions of foreign and domestic art.
At the present moment, the collection comprises 639 works by 99 different artists and it concentrates on Finnish art works from the 80s and 90s. Important series of works within the collection include those by Juhana Blomsted, Carolus Enckell, Outi Heiskanen, Tapio Junno, Pauno Pohjolainen, Kain Tapper and Nina Terno. Significant artists from the region of Kainuu include H. Ahtela, Helvi Hyvärinen, Matti Koskela, Jaakko Leppänen and Kaarlo Mikkonen.

Over the last few years, the growth of the collection has chiefly been a result of donations by local artists such as Matti Koskela who donated his entire output of graphics to the museum, Kaarlo Mikkonen contributed miniature sculptures and Ilkka Väätti both sculptures and paintings. The museum is also responsible for the collection of the City of Kajaani, which consists mainly of works by regional artists displayed in various public buildings in the city.

There is a doorbell for disabled customers beside the main entrance. Unfortunately, there is no elevator to the exhibition rooms on the second floor though. The museum has chairs in the exhibition rooms for resting. Prams for small children are available free of charge.

Opening hours: Sun-Fri 10-17, Wed 10-20, Sat closed
Admission: €2/€1
Kindergarten and school groups: Admission free
Admission free on Wednesdays between 16.00 and 18.00

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The statue of a Swedish count called Per Brahe is situated on the side of the market square near 'Anttila' department store. Kajaani was founded by Per Brahe in 1651. At that time, Finland was ruled by Sweden, and the King decided to send Per Brahe to civilise and develop the backwards country and the folk. During his time in Finland, Per Brahe reformed the administration, introduced a postal system, improved and developed commerce and agriculture. He also founded only about 9 other towns in Finland at this time, so he must have been a pretty busy man.

The Market Square is a venue for various events such as a beach volley tournament, annual Christmas market and annual Autumn market (in the beginning of September). In summer time, they sell things like strawberries and various vegetables on the market square and there is also a small cafe where you can buy coffee very early in the morning and enjoy the quietness of the town.

A poet, playwright and novelist Eino Leino was the most important developer of Finnish-language poetry at the turn of the 20th century. His statue is placed in the park on the side of the river.

Leino's works combine the archaic and mythic tradition (Similar to the style of Kalevala and that of old Finnish folk songs and poems) and modern poetry (e.g. symbolism and influences from Friedrich Nietzsche) The themes of poems often center around nature, love and despair, but he also wrote poems concerning current political events and ideals. Many of Leino's poems have also been composed into songs, such as 'Nocturne'. In his lifetime he published over 70 books containing poems and stories. One of his most famous works are the two poem collections 'Helkavirsiä'

"Short time's to us allotted till our urn.
Living, like furnace flames then let us burn,
High let us in the fire be ascending,
Earth stays below, the spirit's heavenward tending."
(from 'Hymn to Fire')

Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884) is best known for composing the Finnish national epic compiled from Finnish folk poetry, Kalevala (lit. 'The Lands of Kaleva'). He worked as the district doctor in Kajaani in the early 19th century when there were only about 400 people living the town.

Since his true passion lay in his native language, he decided to go touring the countryside of Finland, Lapland and Russian Karelia to support his collecting efforts of Finnish folk poetry amongst the rural people. This led to a series of books. The most illustrious of his work are the poem collections 'Kantele', 'Kalevala' and 'Kanteletar'.

Lönnrot and his contemporaries collected most of the poem variants (one poem might have up to 200 variants) scattered across the regions of Karelia and Ingria. He then arranged the poems into a coherent whole. In this process, he merged poem variants and characters together, left out verses that did not fit in or composed lines of his own in order to connect certain passages into a logical plot. He even invented a few names, which could be used for a character throughout the whole story. It has been estimated that the Kalevala comprises: 1/3 of word for word recordings by the collectors, half of material that Lönnrot adjusted slightly, 14% of verses he wrote himself based on poem variants and 3% of verses purely of his own invention.

The first edition of Kalevala ("Kalewala, taikka Wanhoja Karjalan Runoja Suomen Kansan muinoisista ajoista" (The Kalevala, or old Karelian poems about ancient times of the Finnish people), also known as simply the Old Kalevala, came out in 2 volumes in 1835–6. The Old Kalevala consisted of 32 poems. The 2nd edition of Kalevala (1849) (so called "new Kalevala") contains 50 poems, and is the standard text of the Kalevala read today.

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In December 2006, I was visiting my parents in Kajaani and one morning I was browsing through the local news paper when I saw an article about a German guy and his Ukrainian fiance who live in Berlin. They were posing in front of the old town hall in the freezing weather, the girl was holding a bunch of flowers and was all dressed up in white. They had got married in the old town hall of Kajaani just a few moments before the photo was taken... Okay, I'm sure there are other more exotic places to tie the knot as well, but good for them.. Or perhaps good for Kajaani, right?

It turns out that the old town hall that always seemed so empty as if nothing was going on in there when I was a kid (the truth is nothing was going on between 1985 and 1990!) is nowadays is used civil weddings and small events. Although the building's location is very central, it seems slightly out of place. The town centre is a bizarre mix of a row of low rise buildings housing shops, banks and restaurants as well as a few high rise blocks of flats. When I was a kid the building used to be green, but it was painted with a sort of sandy-burnt yellow paint in 1990 during a complete restoration. Not the pretties choice of color, in my opinion, but the building itself is rather pretty. It is a small wood-built Cowrl-House and serves as a remarkable memorial to the craft building. It was was designed by a German architect Carl Ludvig Engel and built in 1831.

Carl Ludvig Engel (1778-1840) is known for his neo-classical (empire) style. His most noted works works include the buildings surrounding the Senate Square in Helsinki including the Cathedral, the Palace of the Council of State (formerly The Senate), the main building of Helsinki University and the University library.

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This picturesque wooden church was built in 1726. It houses highly valuable wall and ceiling paitings from the late 18th Century. The paintings were created by Emanuel Granberg. Over the years the paintings have suffered substantial damage caused by the leaking roof and have had to been restored twice in 1851 and between 1937-1942.

One of the best preserved paintings by Granberg portrays 'The Last Judgement'. It is located above the main entrance. The top part illustrates the joys of Heaven and the bottom the misery of Hell. A substantial part of the bottom bit was, however, painted over or completely removed most probably during the initial conservation of the original paintings in 1851, because it is thought that the female members of the communion found the pictures highly upsetting and allegedly some even fainted due to the shock and horror. ;-)

The painting in the front of the church at the altar was painted by Margareta Capsia. It depicts 'The Holy Communion' and it has been in the church since 1727.

The church has a seating for 800 people. There is no electricity or heating in the church. Regular services are usually organised in Summer as well as Christmas.

The church is open daily between 10am and 6pm from 21 May to 26 August 2007. On any other times, please contact Kajaani Info tel. +358 (0)8-615 52555 and ask for a guide.

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Vuokatti is the ultimate sport and leisure resort in the region. It is located somewhat 40 km away from Kajaani towards the eastern border that Finland shares with Russia. Russia is still about 150km away, so you can't see it, but you're getting close and there are masses of Russian tourist flocking to Vuokatti every year around 7 January which is the date when the Russian celebrate their Xmas (according to the Russian Orthodox Church and the old Julian calendar).

Enough about the Russians, the facilities in Vuokatti include 200 kilometres of cross country skiing tracks, 12 down hill skiing slopes, an indoor ski tunnel, indoor half pipe, luxurious KatinKulta spa, golf course, indoor bowling (with regular disco bowling evenings) and a whole range of accommodation from log cabins to well equipped flats and hotel rooms (It's useful to book well ahead though).

The skiing season runs roughly from December to May. Vuokatti also boasts as being the home of the nationally and internationally recognised sports training institute, as several professional teams from various different countries train there every year.

The KatinKulta Spa and water world hosts a curious speciality called "Sauna World”. This section of the spa has a Turkish, a Roman and a Finnish sauna. It is guaranteed to be a bit of an experience, since they do not actually allow people to wear their swimming costumes in the section. However, there are separate changing rooms, showers, loos and a Finnish sauna and for males and females, so no need to worry!!! Phew.. There is also a special "smoky" sauna outdoors. In practise, it is just a mild steamy sauna, but it does have a distinctive smell of smoke. The sauna is prepared several hours in advance by setting a fire under some stones. When the fire has burnt out, the door is opened and the smoke allowed to escape. The stones will however still continue to provide enough heat for the visitors.

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The poet Eino Leino was born in Hövelö, Paltamo on 6 July 1879. The house where he was born no longer stands in its original location, but a new house was built in Paltaniemi somewhat 100 years later (in 1978), using the original plans for the house in Paltamo. The house is decorated according to the 20th Century style and it houses a photographic exhibition about Eino Leino as well as a gift shop.

The house is open for visitors from 1 June to 31 August (Sunday to Friday 10:00-20:00). It is also possible to hire the house for conferences and parties (e.g. wedding reception, christening etc.) all around the year. The combined seating capacity of the various rooms is approximately 80. The rooms include "Isän kamari ja sali" (Father's bedroom and lounge) which are the largest of the rooms with the seating capacity of approximately 30/each. The Father's bedroom is equipped with long communal tables.

Free admission
Languages spoken: English, Finnish, German, Swedish