Every design for Alajärvi

Alajärvi means 'lower lake', yet the lake that gave the town its name lies higher than the other main lakes of Järviseutu. Scholars of place names explain the paradox through the way the waters flowed long ago, before the land rose, and through the routes the first settlers took. Ask a local and you will hear more than one version.

Alajärvi lies in South Ostrobothnia and is the only town in Järviseutu, the lake district of the region, with its centre built along the shore of the lake itself. Its neighbours run from Lappajärvi and Vimpeli to Ähtäri and Lapua, and Lehtimäki became part of the town when the two merged. This was Alvar Aalto's home parish, and his buildings turn up throughout it, from the Youth Association building to the library and the administrative centre. The painter Eero Nelimarkka built his own museum here, Nelimarkka-museo, designed by his friend Hilding Ekelund, and Villa Nelimarkka stands beside it. The Church of Gabriel, designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, has grave memorials by Aalto in its churchyard.

For anyone from Alajärvi, the road home ends at the lake, the old bell tower and the Jääkärimuistomerkki, and it still feels like the one place that never needs explaining.