Saimaa Canal

Lappeenranta lies at the north end of the Saimaa Canal, the construction of which was planned by several Swedish kings but was carried out only in the reign of Tsar Alexander II and completed in 1856. Until 1944 it was wholly within Finnish territory, but in 1944 almost its whole length fell within the territory which Finland was compelled to cede to Russia and it was closed. In the 1960s, however, the Soviet Union leased the canal zone back to Finland, and the Finns then built a new canal on the old line, with modern locks. The canal is now open to pleasure boats.