Every design for Inari

People have lived on the shores of Lake Inari for thousands of years, and stone-age dwellings have turned up at Vuopaja, right on the edge of the village. Inari itself grew where the fast-flowing Juutua River empties into the lake, on an old route that followed the waterways, and over the centuries it became a lively place of markets and trade. Today it is widely known as the capital of Finnish Sámi culture, a village where Finns, Northern Sámi and Inari Sámi live side by side. In Inari Sámi it is Aanaar.

Siida, the Sámi museum and nature centre, is where most visitors begin, with Saamelaismuseon ulkomuseo in the grounds and Muinaisasuinpaikka close by. Further along the river stands Sajos, the Sámi cultural centre and home of the Sámi Parliament. Every January the Skábmagovat indigenous film festival fills the dark weeks, and for a century and a half gold prospectors from Lemmenjoki have come into the village for supplies and company; a plot in the churchyard is set aside for them.

If Inari is home, you know the roar of the Juutua and the light over the lake on a summer night. That stays yours, however far you travel.