Every design for Mikkeli

Hundreds of lakes surround Mikkeli, the city on the north-western shore of Saimaa, Finland's largest lake. With more holiday cottages than almost any other municipality in the country, many Finns have their own small Mikkeli summer to look back on.

What sets Mikkeli apart, though, is the part it played in the country's history. During the Winter War and the Continuation War, the headquarters of the Finnish army worked out of a local secondary school here, and the city's coat of arms still carries a pair of crossed marshal's batons in honour of Mannerheim. Long before that, people painted on the cliffs at Astuvansalmi in Ristiina, the largest rock painting site in the Nordic countries, and the town itself takes its name from the Archangel Michael. The centre sits on the bay of Savilahti, with Kivisakasti, Suur-Savon Museo and Konsertti- ja kongressitalo Mikaeli all close by.

Päämajamuseo stands on the site of that wartime headquarters, and Mannerheimin salonkivaunu, the Marshal's saloon car, is kept in the city too. For anyone with family ties to Mikkeli, they are reminders of a town that has always held its ground, and of why its map is worth wearing.