Every design for Ruovesi

Ruovesi is the lake parish where Johan Ludvig Runeberg, working as a tutor at Ritoniemi manor, found the models for Ensign Stål on his hunting trips, and the spark for The Elk Hunters. His name still marks the village, from Runeberginlähde, the spring, to J. L. Runebergin muistomerkki.

People who know Ruovesi talk about its waters first. The chain of Näsijärvi, Lake Ruovesi and Tarjannevesi cuts the municipality in two, gathering the routes from the north on their way to the Kokemäki River, and summer here means boats, jetties and the shores of Pappilanlahti. Helvetinjärvi National Park lies within the municipality, and the name Ruovesi is linked to ruoko, the Finnish word for reed. Akseli Gallen-Kallela spent time at Pekkala manor, the parish once ran seven export sawmills, and it opened the first municipal hospital in rural Finland. During the Finnish War, the guerrillas of Roth and Spoof struck behind Russian lines from here.

The detail that stays is the old storehouse of Wiljamakasiini, with Ruoveden kotiseutumuseo close by and the evening light falling across the bay below the church village.