Every design for Pälkäne

Pälkäne has a river that was made in a single upheaval. Lake Pälkänevesi burst through the lowest point of a ridge and carved the Kostianvirta into Lake Mallasvesi, leaving its old outlet, the Sarsanvirta, to run dry. The two lakes sit at almost the same level, so in spring the current can even turn and flow the other way.

For many, Pälkäne is summer itself. Families from Helsinki and the surrounding cities keep cottages along its shores, and the place grows busy as soon as the holidays begin. The old parish table speaks of the same unhurried rhythm: tuuvinki, a sweetened potato casserole, slowly smoked meat, the Tavastian loaf varikoinen, sweet sahti and plum kissel.

Onkkaala, the village centre, sits between Mallasvesi and Pälkänevesi, with Carl Ludvig Engel's brick church and the older stone church it replaced. The Tuulimyllymuseo, the Salinmäen ulkomuseo and the memorial to Daniel Medelplan, the printer who carved a primer onto wooden blocks in Kukkola, all fit on the same map. But it is Kostian linnake, marking the battle fought by the Kostianvirta, that gives a Pälkäne shirt its story.