Porvoo (Swedish Borgå), 50km/30mi northeast of Helsinki, is attractively situated on the left bank of the Porvoonjoki (Borgåå), near the mouth of the river, which flows into an inlet on the Gulf of Finland. The town was founded in 1346 by the Swedish king Magnus Eriksson, and some 45% of the population are still Swedish-speaking. The town was burned down by the Danes in 1508 and by the Russians in 1708. In 1732 Porvoo became the see of a bishop. In 1809 Tsar Alexander I, who under the treaty of Frederikshamn had become Grand Duke of Finland, received the homage of the Estates here. Porvoo was the birthplace of the sculptors Walter Runeberg and Ville Vallgren and the home of a number of other artists. Since the 1960s an important element in the town's economy has been the oil port of Sköldvik, around which many industrial plants have been established.
At Mäntsälä, Road 55 joins the Helsinki-Lahti highway (E 75). 2km/1.25mi southwest, at Hirvivaara, is the Sepänmäki Craft Museum, an old craftsmen's quarter with buildings and workshops preserved in their original state.
The buildings include a blacksmith, tailor, weaver, carpenter, smithy, café, shoemaker and blood-letter as well as a threshing shed, windmill, smoke sauna, and storehouses.
At Korttia, 26km/16mi from Porvoo on the Lahti road (No. 55), can be found a group of some 20 potholes up to 10m/33ft deep, scoured out of the granite by the grinding action of pebbles swirled round by melt-water during the retreat of the glaciers in the last ice age, some 10,000 years ago.
To the south of Porvoo is a charming scatter of skerries. Some 6km/4mi southeast of Porvoo is the old manor house of Haikko (main building converted into a hotel), with the studio of the 19th century painter Albert Edelfelt, now a museum. 10km/6mi northeast is another old manorhouse, Sannäs (1836-37; national monument), now a conference center.
To the east of Porvoo's Cathedral, in Kaivokatu, is a building which houses the Natural History Museum, the Hunting and Wildlife Museum and an Art Gallery (periodic special exhibitions, particularly of contemporary art).
In Porvoo's Old Cemetery on the west bank of the Porvoonjoki, on the Helsinki road, are the graves of J. L. Runeberg and of Eugen Schauman, who shot the Russian General Bobrikov in Helsinki in 1904 and then took his own life.
30km/19mi east of Porvoo, just off Road 7, is Pernaja (Swedish Pernå), birthplace of the Finnish Reformer Mikael Agricola (1509-57). St Michael's Church (14th C.) has a 16th century altar from Lübeck. 5km/3mi beyond this stands the imposing manor house of Sarvilahti (17th and 18th C.), in a beautiful park.
Some 500m/550yd south of the Doll Museum in Porvoo, in Runeberginkatu, can be seen a bronze statue of J. L. Runeberg, a smaller copy of the statue in Helsinki. Farther south, at the corner of Runeberginkatu and Aleksanterinkatu, is the Runeberg House, home of the poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-77), who taught in the grammar school from 1837 to 1857. In the adjoining house is the sculpture collection of Walter Runeberg, the poet's son.
Address: J.L. Runeberg's House & Sculpture Collection, Raatihuoneenkatu 21, SF-06100 Porvoo, Finland
Hours:
May 1 to August 31: 10am-4pm; Sun:11am-4pm
September 1 to April 30: 12pm-4pm; Closed: Mon, Tue
Always closed on: New Year's Day (January 1), May Day / Labor Day (May 1), Summer solstice - First day of summer (June 21), Independence Day - Finland (December 6), Christmas - Christian (December 25), Christmas Eve - Christian (December 24)
A short distance away from Porvoo's history museum and art gallery, in Papinkatu, is the Yrjö A. Jäntti Art Gallery, with Yrjö A. Jäntti's collection of Finnish painting, together with graphic art, drawings and woodcarving.
Address: Yrjö A. Jäntti's Art Collection, Papinkatu 19, SF-06100 Porvoo, Finland
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Porvoo
