There are a total of three villages on the Finnish side that belong to the Vienan cultural sphere. All Vienan Karelian villages are located right on the border: Hietajärvi and Kuivajärvi in Suomussalmi, and the village of Rimmi in Kuhmo.
Sights, services and attractions
The chapel of St. Nicholas and Domna's cabin are located on Kuivajärvi, representing Viena Karelian building traditions. Domna's cabin offers accommodation and rental facilities, with sleeping places for 10 people. You can prepare food in the kitchen or order it in advance from a catering service. There are two saunas. A boat can be rented from the cabin, and fishing is available nearby. The former border guard station houses the accommodation company Vienan lomas, which has accommodation for 30 people. The village also features the Huovinen family memorial. It was designed by architect Árpad Sailo and erected by the Huovinen family association.
In the silence of Kuivajärvi, you can find peace, enjoy the village's unhurried pace of life, and sense the Viena Karelian atmosphere. In the nearby Murhisalo wilderness, you can enjoy beautiful nature and a stunning mire conservation area.
Hietajärvi, three kilometres from Kuivajärvi, is located right on the Russian border, on the shore of Hietajärvi. Jussi Huovinen, the last traditional rune singer directly descended from Viena Karelia, lived in Hietajärvi. You can explore the heritage house built in his honour by booking a key from Juminkeko (Kuhmo).
The history of Kuivajärvi and Hietajärvi
Kuivajärvi and Hietajärvi were formed in the late 1700s. Alipei, who had fled Tsar's 25-year military service, was the founder of Hietajärvi village. Toarie Lesonen from Latvajärvi, Arhippa's sister, who came to the house as a maid, and Tomenttei Sikov, a farmhand from Suikuärvi, got married and moved to Kuivajärvi. Tomenttei became Lari Huovinen, the ancestor of the family.
These small Finnish villages in Viena hold a significant cultural-historical role, as the poem recorded by Daniel Europaeus in Hietajärvi prompted Elias Lönnrot to alter the structure of the Kalevala. Toarie sang to D. Europaeus that Lemminkäinen killed the master of Pohjola at a wedding in Pohjola, and Joukahainen attempted to kill Väinämöinen. Lönnrot changed the order of the poems in the new Kalevala in 1849. Later, several ethnographers and artists visited the villages.
A notable preserver of tradition, Jussi Huovinen, a descendant of the Toari family, lived in Hietajärvi until the age of 93. He was the last Viena-Karelian runo singer, and with him, the chain of oral tradition, stretching back thousands of years, was broken. In memory of Jussi Huovinen, the Juminkeko Foundation built a heritage house in Hietajärvi.
The Domna cabin was built in 1964 on the initiative of the Karelian Cultural Society and funded by the Väinölä Foundation, to preserve and honour Karelian building culture. During the war, all original Karelian houses were destroyed, and new construction followed the 'rintamamiestalo' (frontline soldier's house) model. Karelian-style houses were not eligible for subsidies. Upon its opening, the cabin was named the Memorial Cabin of Rune Singers. It was named in honour of Domna Huovinen, the last person to master the art of singing laments.
Life in Vienalaiskylä nowadays
The Kuivajärvi-Hietajärvi area was established as Finland's first landscape conservation area. The villages, together with the Murhinsalo conservation area, are nominated as a nationally significant landscape area.
Nowadays, fewer than twenty people live in the villages. The property situation in the villages is good: houses that are not permanently occupied are used as holiday homes and are used during holiday seasons. There are active hunting clubs operating in the villages. Kuivajärvi and Hietajärvi are the only surviving Viena Karelian villages in Finland.
For more information:
St Nicholas' Chapel
Kuivajärventie 196 KUIVAJÄRVI
Property manager Hannele Niskanen
Tel. 040 555 3639
Vienan Holidays (former Kuivajärvi Border Guard). Inquiries Kari Ollikainen, telephone 0400 234 309
Domnan's cottage, Accommodation
