What attracted me in this place?
I started to explore the city and different things caught my attention. I’m going to share my first impressions in this post .
Fascination with typical architecture
One of the things that caught my attention more was the typical architecture in this city. I used to see high buildings, all the same in Spain. Here is the opposite. I just fell in love with the wooden houses and their gardens near Pielinen lake. They are colorful and so characteristic with its gable roofs (this is used to let the snow come off better).
In this photos you can see how it looks:
- The red house is a typical wooden house in Finland.
- The yellow house used to be the residence of the doctor in Nurmes, now is a private property.
- The light brown house used to be the Lemonade house . A local family made homemade lemonade in this place. Nowadays it is also a private property.
**These houses are protected by law. That means that it is not possible to do any changes or modification in the facade of the house.
The owners of these houses used to be the richest people in the city.
For me, this place looks like a fairytale town.
Another thing that caught my attention in relation to the aesthetics of the city were its wide streets.
In July 1891, a fast-spreading fire broke out in the bell tower of the church and destroyed the city. After this event, they tried to build in a more organized way. The idea was to create wide streets and planted trees around it. In case of new fire this would be useful to stop it.
Exploring the city I found also that the Nurmes population have different religious beliefs. Most Finns are Christians. The most important are the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Orthodox Church.
The Nurmeksen kirkko is the fifth largest church in Finland (approximately 2.200 seats). The bell tower is 55 meters high and you can see it from far away. It is an incredibly huge church for a small city like Nurmes.
This is the Sts. Sergius and Herman of Valaam Chapel (Orthodox). The architectural style reflects the Karelian culture.
Nurmes War Hero Cemetery (Sankarihautausmaa).
In conclusion, I would like to make a reference about the most valuable thing in this place:
The wild nature
In the region of North Karelia, nature is simply wonderful. One of my favorite moments is when I stay totally disconnected in the forest just listening to birds and the sound of the wind. Here it is normal to see many nests hung on the trees (like in the photo). Sometimes I’ve even seen rabbits near to me. I really enjoy staying in contact with nature. It is my moment of reflection and conscious thinking. I’m so grateful to life for being able to experience all these sensations.
Breathing, feeling, thinking and reconnecting,
that’s all I need in this place.
In the next chapter, I will tell you other curiosities about this place.
I’ll see you then!
Laura Glez
Hyvärilä Volunteers 