Visavuori

Emil Wikstöm is a famous Finnish sculptor. His name may not sound familiar to you but if you ever visited Helsinki you have seen his work and most of you have photographed his art.

For example he has made Lyhdynkantajat at Helsinki railway station. You should see them at night time too because then the lanterns have the lights on.

He has made also Karhu at The National Museum of Finland. If you've been there I am sure you have a pic about the bear too.

Visavuori is Emil Wikström's home and ateljé museum in Tarttila, Finland. Tarttila locates in Valkeakoski. Valkeakosi locates 35 km south from Tampere, Finland. Wikström chose this place for his wilderness home ateljé because of 3 reasons: easy connections to the roads and railway, it had to be in a wilderness and it must have  a sunny downhill to south. It was built in 1894 so today it is even more accessible by roads. You can get there also by a coach boat.

Because it locates on the hill all the places are not accessible by a wheelchair. Still there are many places to enjoy on a beautiful day if you can't walk so well. There's also a small cafe. The buildings provide many great details also outside. Wikström was inspired by many travels and cultures when he designed and built his home ateljé.

The estate is a very interesting and inspiring place. You can find -of course- his sculpture art there. But you can also find carpenter, stonemason and textile art there, not to mention gardening and wildlife. 

If you can walk stairs it is a place you can investigate even the observatory. It is a proper attraction also with the children who like to explore the world and buildings but are old enough to understand what means "do not touch".

Visavuori is a proper estate but Wikström was not rich always. When he studied in Paris he shared a tiny room with a friend. When one painted the other must lay on the bed! This reconstruction shows how small their room actually was in Paris !

In Visavuori there is a lot for all. If you are interested only about the home decoration, that is just fine. You will get inspired also in that case.

Nature values were important to Wikström. That is easy to understand when realizing how he lived in Paris. At some point the artists started to long into to the wild open nature after spending some amusing and inspiring time in crowded Paris.

In the winter room they have a fire place for heating up the place to keep the plants alive and make also people feel warmer. The green values are preserved in Visavuori still today.

Visavuori has stunning views which the modern world has not spoiled. It is easy to understand why he fell in love the place and chose it for his place to be.

It is not a registered eco or sustainable tourist attraction & museum. They neither have a program for it. I gave them a feedback about it and told that it would be quite easy for them to access this level of demands to take a green transfer step and become nature conversation estate. That is because they have respected Wikström's will and  just maintained it how it was built and meant to be.