Nurmes House

Nurmes House is a magnificent cultural complex, housing a library, art gallery, museum and cinema. The Nurmes House overlooks a magnificent lake view from a ridge of pine trees, which makes it a great venue for events.

The house itself is a beautiful place to visit. Gallery Tykko changes exhibitions a few times a year and the exhibitions are free of charge. You can visit the exhibitions during library opening hours and during events and film screenings in the Hannikainen Hall. Next to Gallery Tyko is Café Harju, which serves delicious pastries, speciality coffees and a soup lunch on weekdays.

On the ground floor of Nurmes House you will find the Köts Museum, where exhibitions change a few times a year.

Events at Nurmes House

Monuments near Nurmes House

Statue of Elias Lönnrot

In the park of Nurmes House, named Elias Lönnrot Park. Lönnrot (1802-1884) visited Nurmes several times on his poetry collecting trips. Elias Lönnrot was the compiler of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, and the Kantelettare, a linguist, doctor and pioneer of Finnish botany. Lönnrot was a reformer of the Finnish language, the editor of several dictionaries and the publisher and editor of the first Finnish-language magazine.

Monuments in Kirkkoharju

Kirkkoharju has several war-related monuments, a heroes’ cemetery and a church monument. The crosses in the cemetery were purchased in 1946 and the memorial stones were erected in 1977.

The stone of the three churches

As many as four Evangelical Lutheran churches have been destroyed in Nurmes, so the church in Old Market Square is the fifth of its kind.

1. The church was built in 1651, but was destroyed on 26 August 1656 in the Rapture War, when it was burnt by the Russians. The church was located in the adjacent churchyard.
2. The church was built in 1661, but was demolished in 1759 due to decay. The church stood on the site of the hero’s statue. The church also included a belfry, which was demolished in 1773.
3. church was built in 1764, located on the site of the three church stones. The belfry, designed by Simo Jylka, was completed in 1773 and was in use until 1889. The old belfry can be found on the Church Hill and is the oldest building in Nurmes. The church was demolished in 1858 because it became too cramped for the people of Nurmes. The logs of the church were used, among other things, to build a prison house.
4. The church was completed in 1857. The church caught fire in 1891 due to linseed oil and burnt down the whole village, hence the name Porokylä. The only building that survived the fire now houses the Supikas café-restaurant. The ruins of the church and a monument can be found next to the parish centre in Porokylä.

In autumn 1938, a memorial stone designed by Ilari Wirkkala was erected on the first three books.

Olli Tiainen’s grave and memorial plaque

In the spring of 1808, Olli Tiainen (2.6.1770-27.2.1833) rose to become the leader of the peasants of Pielisjärvi when they began to defend their homeland against a Russian invader. As a skilful warrior, he gained the trust of both his subordinates and Colonel Sandels, who was defending Savo. Savo – A memorial monument and plaque erected in the 1870s by the Karelian Department.

On the tombstone P.J. Hannikainen’s verses:
Who offers his spirit to the fatherland
And defends the honour of his fathers,
The good people of the land
Who cherish their memories.

War memorials

The War of Independence hero statue, with the names of those who died in the 1918 war. The statue has been in the same place since 1921. The statue was made by the sculptor Ilmari Wirkkala.

The Winter War and Continuation War graves and crosses were erected in 1977 and were designed by Aaro Haapasalo from Nurmes.

Maaemo’s lap

The graves of the starving dead (1868) are located near the bell tower of the third Lutheran church in Nurmes (1773) on the slope facing Pappilansuor. The mass graves are still visible as depressions and raised areas. The memorial monument to the starving dead, Veikko Jalava’s “Maaemon lap” (1965), was erected near the mass graves in question. In 1868, a total of 1218 people died of starvation in Nurmes and Valtimo, 14% of the population. The cemetery was already in use long before the mass graves of the famine years, as already around the middle of the 17th century the end of the ridge facing Porokylä was used as a cemetery. It cannot be assumed that the present boundaries contain all the graves of the historic period, but there are probably graves outside the present stone fence. Prehistoric artefacts have also been found on the site.