Rautalampi

The church of Rautalampi is one of the biggest wooden churches in northern Europe. It was designed by C.A. Engel, who also designed the cathedral and many other buildings in Helsinki.

The Rautalampi Museum hosts an extraordinarily wide collection – over 50,000 objects and recordings – giving a good overview of local history. There are also changing exhibitions.

After World War II, a lot of Karelian evacuees have treasured the Orthodox tradition in Rautalampi. The church building, sacralized to honour Saint Nicholas the Worker, is near the library.

There are expectionally many old mansions in Rautalampi. Most of them are now privately owned, but you can find a restaurant on reservation in both the Ropola Mansion and the Korhola Mansion. Korhola also offers B & B.

Road number 543 winds from the town centre of Rautalampi all the way to Kerkonkoski. This beautiful scenic route runs between four lakes on Liimattalanharju esker.

Rautalampi has a riding high-school, the only one in Finland.

Rautalampi Library serves tourists and local residents. Besides normal library services there are WiFi and computers with free internet connection available. A local speciality is the Finnskog collection of Forest Finns (the king had Finns from the Finnish forests move across the Gulf of Bothnia to put those forests to use).