Every design for Keuruu

How many lakes can one small town hold? Keuruu, in Central Finland, counts more than three hundred of them, from the broad open water of Keurusselkä and Ukonselkä to Pihlajavesi and Liesjärvi. The land between them is hilly and wooded, shaped by the Suomenselkä watershed, with bogs and ridges filling the gaps.

That mix of water and forest is what people remember about Keuruu: the long, narrow gorge lake of Huhkojärvi, the Pihlajavesi waterway where otters and trout thrive, and Rautovuori rising above the trees. Several of these places are protected Natura sites. In summer the Keuruu Market draws crowds, and at midsummer a Pentecostal conference fills Iso Kirja with visitors from across Finland and beyond. Keuruun vanha kirkko, a wooden church from the eighteenth century, now serves as a museum, and Keuruun museo and Punnosen talo keep the local story. The village of Haapamäki, in the west of the municipality, grew up around a railway junction.

At the harbour, Venesatama, the paddle steamer Elias Lönnrot has its home port, ready to slip out onto Keurusselkä on a still summer morning.