Every design for Alavus

The name Alavus began as the name of a lake, the one lying lower down the river route, and in Swedish the town is still called Alavo. The people who came here first arrived as soon as the ice withdrew, and stone tools, hearths and the remains of huts tell of hunters from the Suomusjärvi culture. Later, people from Häme used the area as a route to their wilderness grounds and on to the Gulf of Bothnia, and slash-and-burn settlers from Savo moved in, so many of them that the upper Lapuanjoki valley became known as Lapua's Savo. Even older are the Sámi traces hidden in the place names, such as the Kätkänjoki, named after the Sámi word for wolverine.

Alavus lies in South Ostrobothnia, where the flat plain gives way to the hills of Suomenselkä, between Seinäjoki and Ähtäri. Unusually for the region it has dozens of lakes, among them Kuivasjärvi, a bird lake of international importance. The Alavuden taistelun muistomerkki recalls a battle fought here, and the Taidekeskus Harri and the Sotavanhuksen Museo sit within the town.

Picture the Kätkänjoki winding through farmland and forest towards the lakes, with Haaravuori rising on the horizon.