Viianki village
Viianki village is located at the end of the Vienan reitti, near the Russian border. Since the Vienan reitti is not a continuous hiking trail, it is best to reach Viianki village by car. From Malahviantie road, take Kelloniementie road and drive all the way to the end. Viianki village is at the end of the road. The Vienan reitti continues for about 0.5 kilometres from Viianki towards the Russian border. The route ends at the border zone, where access is restricted and always requires a separate border zone permit.
For more information: https://raja.fi/rajavyohykelupa.
The village landscape is idyllic and well-maintained. Viianki village was awarded the Landscape Management Award of the Year by the Centre for Rural Women in 2017.
Viiangi offers bed and breakfast accommodation for hikers. Tmi Kirsti Helena tel. 040 964 7480.
The history of Viianki village
Viianki village, located near the Russian border, was once a busy passageway. From Viianki, soldiers, peddlers, collectors of folk poetry, cultural researchers, and other travellers would proceed either via the Kelloniemi croft or the Viianki farm, and further on through the border croft of Pulkkisenautio to the Vuokinlatva border crossing. From there, they continued to the nearby Kivijärvi lake on the Viena Karelia side, and from there to Vuokkiniemi village. The traffic passing through Viianki diminished when the Raatteentie road was built and ceased completely when the border was closed with the Treaty of Tartu in 1920.
On the Finnish side, the master and mistress of a croft in Pulkkisenautio, situated in the current border zone, acted as carriers for Viena Karelian merchants. The border croft was a gift from a wealthy Viena merchant to a loyal couple.
The Viiangi house was originally built in 1721. The war period of 1939-1944 was also tragic for the village of Viiangi. During the Winter War, Finnish soldiers burned all the other houses in the village, but the Viiangi house was left unburned. After the Interim Peace, the villagers lived temporarily in their makeshift huts, saunas, and barns. During the Continuation War, in a Soviet partisan raid (4.7.1943), 18 villagers died and almost all the buildings were destroyed. Now there is a monument to the partisan raid at the site, and a photographic exhibition related to the event is housed in the adjacent barn.
The Viianki border guard station operated in Pyttyniemi on the southern shore of Viiankijärvi from 1917 to 1940. Remains of the guard building and other outbuildings are present on the site.
Wuokinlatva
The border of the kingdom, established by the Peace of Täyssinä in 1595, was defined with an official border crossing point named ”Wuokinlatva”, which was also marked on the first map of Kainuu in 1650. The border has remained in place for over 400 years at the Suomussalmi crossing. It is the oldest Finnish-Russian border to have remained unchanged, and believed to be one of the oldest in Europe.
An ancient trade route between the White Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia passed through Wuokinlatva. It has been a gateway for lively interaction between Vienans and Vuokkinans for centuries. Numerous travellers moved through Wuokinlatva, especially in the 19th century, with Vienans coming to Finland for pedlar trade and ethnographers hurrying to the song villages of Viena Karelia. Toivo Kuisma's expedition, aiming to conquer Viena Karelia, travelled via the Vienan reitti to Vuokkiniemi and Uhtua in the summer of 1918.
Ilmari Kianto painted a picture with words: ”Vuokki is a golden gateway to the herb gardens of Viena.” The traffic significance of the Wuokinlatva border crossing diminished after the completion of Raatteentie road in the early 20th century. The road extended across the national border all the way to Latvajärvi village. Due to a lack of border control, villagers' visits across the border via Wuokinlatva continued well into the 1920s. With the Treaty of Tartu (1920), cross-border traffic ceased completely within a few years.
The Wuokinlatva information board is located in Viianki village.
