Every design for Suomussalmi

On a rock face above Somerjärvi at Hossa, the paintings known as Värikallio have survived from prehistoric times, a sign that people have been living by these waters for millennia. Suomussalmi has kept finding itself at the centre of things since. In the Winter War, the battles of Suomussalmi and the Raate Road were fought here, and Finnish forces beat a far larger Soviet army. Today the municipality is reindeer country, berry country and lake country at once, and it has even hosted the world championship in berry picking.

Suomussalmi lies in the north of Kainuu, north-east of Kajaani and south of Kuusamo, with Russia along its eastern edge. Its lakes and rivers once made it a junction of the water routes between east and west, and near the border Kuivajärvi and Hietajärvi have long been counted among the poem villages of White Karelia, where Viena Karelian was spoken. Ämmänsaari is the largest settlement, home to Ilmari Kiannon Patsas, Kianta Laiva and the beach at Jätkänpuisto, while Vanhan rajan tolppa marks where an older frontier once ran.

The image to hold on to is Raatteentie, the road through the forest towards Raate, named after the battle fought along it.