UNESCO World Heritage Sites

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UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Finland holds seven Unesco World Heritage sites of which six are cultural and one is natural.

Most of the sites were inscribed in the 90’s. The Kvarken Archipelago and Struve Geodetic Arc are the newest additions to the list that includes for example Fortress of Suomenlinna and wooden town in Old Rauma. Scroll down to read more about the World Heritage sites in Finland.

About Finland

Full of interesting contrasts, such as the four seasons, the Midnight Sun and winter darkness, urban and rural, East and West.

About Finland

Old Rauma

Situated on the Gulf of Botnia, Rauma is one of the oldest harbours in Finland. Built around a Franciscan monastery, where the mid-15th-century Holy Cross Church still stands, it is an outstanding example of an old Nordic city constructed in wood. Although ravaged by fire in the late 17th century, it has preserved its ancient vernacular architectural heritage. (© UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Old Rauma is a typical Scandinavian wooden town. It forms a unified area of historical, single-storey buildings, a partly medieval street network and a viable urban community complete with dwellings, shops and services. Old Rauma was inscribed in 1991.

Fortress of Suomenlinna

Built in the second half of the 18th century by Sweden on a group of islands located at the entrance of Helsinki’s harbour, this fortress is an especially interesting example of European military architecture of the time. (© UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Suomenlinna is a major monument of military architecture. Suomenlinna is also one of Finland’s most popular tourist attractions. At the same time it is a suburb of Helsinki, with 850 people living in the renovated ramparts and barracks.

The Old Church of Petäjävesi

Petäjävesi Old Church in central Finland, was built of logs between 1763 and 1765. This Lutheran country church is a typical example of an architectural tradition that is unique to eastern Scandinavia. It combines the Renaissance conception of a centrally planned church with older forms deriving from Gothic groin vaults. (© UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

The church is an excellent example of Lutheran country church built of logs as a typical example on architectural tradition unique to eastern Scandinavia. The vernacular wooden church, built in 1763-64, has survived in its original form extremely well. The bell tower dates from 1821. The nearby Keuruu and Pihlajavesi churches are from the same period.

Bronze Age Burial Site of Sammallahdenmäki

This Bronze Age burial site features more than 30 granite burial cairns, providing a unique insight into the funerary practices and social and religious structures of northern Europe more than three millennia ago. (© UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

The archaeological site of Sammallahdenmäki located in the Lappi parish in Lower Satakunta is an exceptionally valuable monument from the Bronze Age. The site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999.

Verla Groundwood and Board Mill

Verla Groundwood and Board Mill (1996) and its associated residential area is an outstanding, remarkably well-preserved example of the small-scale rural industrial settlements associated with pulp, paper and board production that flourished in northern Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Only a handful of such settlements survive to the present day. (© UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

The Verla groundwood and board mill is a unique, small-scale industrial complex from the early years of the Finnish wood processing industry. Within its rural setting, the area includes mills, power plants and workers’ housing. Verla was inscribed in 1996.

The Kvarken Archipelago

The Kvarken Archipelago (Finland )and the High Coast (Sweden) are situated in the Gulf of Bothnia, a northern extension of the Baltic Sea. The 5,600 islands of the Kvarken Archipelago feature unusual ridged washboard moraines, ‘De Geer moraines’, formed by the melting of the continental ice sheet, 10,000 to 24,000 years ago.

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UNESCO World Heritage Sites