Close your eyes and calm your breathing. Focus on your senses one by one. What do your ears hear? What does your nose smell?..

“In the summer and winter, Ounasvaara and Pöyliövaara are each as green and beautiful as the other, but in the spring, when the light of the sun brings the leaves back to life, there’s no missing just how different their trees are. Ounasvaara, covered in conifers, is as evenly green as ever, but Pöyliövaara is dotted with spots of a brighter shade – broad-leaved trees waking up after the winter. In the summer, the conifers and broad-leaved trees take on similar colours and blend together once again, but in the autumn, when the leaves turn red and yellow, Pöyliövaara glows warmly in its bright colours, while Ounasvaara remains as green as ever. Look closely at the view in front of you...

Which ones are conifers and which are broad-leaved trees? How do they differ from each other? What kinds of characteristics do different tree species have? Find a birch tree and examine it with all your senses...

“‘You’re useless,’ said the little pine, still so short it barely poked out from between the rocks. ‘You’re no use to anybody. Look at my needles. The little pine was so self-assured because no danger had ever approached it...

Together, think about what it means to feel longing. Give examples from your own life of when and how you’ve experienced longing. How does longing affect you? How do you deal with longing?..

“That night was the first moonlit night of the winter and the wedding of the smallest elf boy and the smallest elf girl. The bride was the youngest and smallest of 365 siblings. That was why her wedding was so late. Her siblings had celebrated theirs in the summer, when the cherry trees and the lilies bloomed...

At Rovaniemi Cemetery, on top of a small hill, stands sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen's monument in red granite to those who have fallen in war. The sculpture depicts two standing soldiers with their heads bowed down, their dying comrade lying between them. The sculpture is monumental and exudes a sense of melancholy peace...

The current Kukkola company building was built in 1939 to serve as facilities for the Ahon Auto car shop. The building housed also a service station. The building is one of the few pre-war buildings representing functionalism in Rovaniemi...

The architectural legacy of Alvar Aalto can be seen in the cityscape of Rovaniemi, both in the city center and a little further away. In the city center, along a walking route, there are five notable sites. A bit further, in Korkalovaara, there is a garden-like residential area called Korkalorinne. Aalto's famous reindeer antler plan, known as the "poronsarviasemakaava" in Finnish, served as the basis for construction during the post-war reconstruction period from 1944 to 1946...

Remains of numerous man-made earthworks can be found alongside Ounasvaara railroad, including both trenches and machine-gun nests as well as auxiliary trenches related to guard activities. At least some of these probably date from the Lapland War. On the side of the hill, next to the railroad, there is a long trench, machine-gun nests and foxholes. No actual fighting took place in this area, however...

Before the war, the Tornio porter and beer factory operated in Rovaniemi along the current Koskikatu street. The factory building was completely destroyed in the war. After the war, the company considered transferring all beer manufacturing operations to Rovaniemi, but the new town plan did not allow for the factory site to be expanded. The factory was, however, rebuilt at the previous site and operated until 1972...

The bridges crossing River Kemijoki were destroyed in the Second World War. A temporary trestle bridge was constructed every spring between 1946 and 1951 after the ice had broken at the site of the current Jätkänkynttilä Bridge. For a few winters, the Kemijärvi trains crossed the river on rails that were installed on the ice. A ferry boat also crossed the rivers Kemijoki and Ounasjoki...

The former children's home was used as a hospital by the German Army during the Continuation War. The building still exists. The hospital and its area were mined during the Lapland War, but no mines were detonated. After the destruction of the town of Rovaniemi, the town's administrative offices were located there...

Tom Engblom explains: Reindeer can of course be found in the forests, provided one has the chance or time to venture into them. Most commonly, we encounter these creatures walking on the road, getting in the way of humans. This gave rise to the idea of creating a work asking just that, "Am I in your way". The concrete reindeer is inspired by the concrete barriers commonly found in cities, called 'concrete pigs' in Finnish...

There are three sculptures by artist Ensio Seppänen (b. 1924 in Kemi) in Rovaniemi. One of these is the monument to the Jäger Movement, completed in 1981 in Jääkäripuisto on Lapinkävijäntie. The sculpture is made of stone...

The 6th Division during the Continuation War was formed in 1941 mainly from men from Lapland. The monument is made of quartzite stone found in the village of Jaatila. Heraldist and graphic artist Olof Eriksson was by 1953 the most prolific designer of coats of arms for towns, municipalities and cities in Finland. In addition, he has designed medals and, together with Heikki Häiväoja, the Finnish 1-mark coin (1964)...

According to German drawings, this was the site of a barracks for Finnish auxiliary workers, Finnische Hilfskräft, built in November and December 1943. The barracks, called Polar, was about eight by twelve metres in size and made of prefabricated plank wood elements. It was supplied by Puutalo Oy, a joint company formed by Finnish timber companies. It took a couple of days for Finnish carpenters to install and considerably longer for prisoners...

Rovaniemi’s first railway station was completed in 1909. Rovaniemi was enlivened by the railway; transport of goods became easier and passengers travelled. Once the new track was completed in 1934, the old station was transformed into housing for railway workers. Since the war, the building has served, among other things, as a post office, temporary railway station, women’s work house and the Provincial Museum of Lapland...

In this area between the railroad and Lähteentie was the Ounasvaara barracks camp of the front line headquarters, Frontleitsstelle 42, commissioned on 15 March 1943. The camp included numerous housing and storage barracks, apparently a large office building, garage, potato cellar, sauna and dressing room and several toilets – about thirty buildings in total. The area had a central square measuring approximately 10 by 60 metres, surrounded by four fairly large buildings. A shuttle transport to the camp was arranged from Rovaniemi railway station...

Generaloberst Eduard Dietl was the longest-serving commander of the German army in Lapland during the Continuation War. Hitler appointed him as the new commander to replace Nikolaus von Falkenhorst in January 1942. Dietl was a true believer in the Nazi ideology and a staunch National Socialist. Despite this, according to his own words, he never would have even dreamed to attempt to preach this ideology in Finland...

In this area, too, some remains of German porcelain tableware can be found, although nearly everything visible above-ground has long since been cleared away. The porcelain stamps reveal that the tableware have been imported from Germany's own factories. For example, Rosenthal tableware has been found in large numbers in the camps used by the Luftwaffe. Large amounts of porcelain were also imported from the Porsgrunn factories in Norway...

Ounasvaara is known as the hub for sports and recreation in Rovaniemi but did you know that between 1941 and 1944, it was also the site of a barracks camp used by the German military, especially the German Air Force Luftwaffe? This walking tour takes you virtually or physically to see the remains of the German wartime camp in the Ounasvaara and Lähteentie areas. The route is 4.2 kilometres long and takes about three hours to get around on foot. The route and locations of the sights along the route and their descriptions and photos can be found in this service...

The monument to M.A. Castrén is located on the outer wall next to the main entrance to the library. The work is based on a sketch by Alvar Aalto. The final implementation is by Kari Huhtamo, who added his signature clear steel arches and balls to the work...

Completed in 1977, the piece is a model example of the constructive style of Kari Huhtamo. The sculpture literally springs up into the sky like a spiral. The motion starts slowly, but intensifies the higher it gets and ends with a bold upward-reaching triumph. At each end of the three-part triumph, Huhtamo has placed small steel balls that can be understood as full stops at the end of a sentence...

In this piece, Huhtamo has structured space with light incisions. The starting point of the piece are thin, steel lines. The steel pipe draws a shape, enclosing a piece of space within it. The essence of the sculpture resembles the abstractness and intangibility created by lines drawn on paper...

The frame of the sculpture is formed by a massive steel plate, where two dimensions transform into three as the reindeer turns and "walks out" of the sculpture. In this way, both the positive and the negative of the reindeer can be seen in the same piece. The figures form a sculptural ensemble that changes when viewed from different angles. The material used in the piece is a massive steel plate weighing about 600 kilograms...

During the Continuation War, the Ounasvaara area of Rovaniemi was used extensively by the Germans. The area included several barracks, a hospital, bakery, veterinary and transport corps, prison camp used by the security services, front line headquarters, canteen for service personnel and, of course, Rommel's field. The area above the children's home and Ranuantie on the southwest slope of Ounasvaara hosted a fairly large barracks camp built by the Luftwaffe in 1942 and 1943. A part of the Luftnachtrichten-Regiment 56 transferred to Rovaniemi in December 1941...

Alvar Aalto designed three four-story commercial and residential buildings in a prominent location in the center of Rovaniemi for local businessman Aarne Aho. Later, Aalto also designed the private house Maison Aho for the same family. The Aho commercial and residential buildings are all located in the same block, forming a cohesive ensemble. The ground floors of the buildings house commercial spaces, while the upper floors originally contained apartments that have since been converted into office spaces...

Located in Jätkänpuisto at the western end of the bridge, the Jätkä-patsas donated by the company Kemi Oy is one of Rovaniemi's best-known sculptures. The statue's lumberjack has symbolised Rovaniemi for decades and is rightfully situated on the shores of a river that is widely known for its traditions in log floating. Kalervo Kallio has turned the lumberjack into a hero of labour. The drawknife and log depict what a lumberjack's work was typically like in the 1950s...

The status Raivaten ja rakentaen by Kemijärvi-born Urpo Kärri is situated in Uitonpuisto, at the western end of the Ounaskoski bridge. The theme of the sculpture is the work of army engineers in the war and the rebuilding of Lapland. The statue is made of slate, stainless steel and mirror glass...