Finland - Nurmes - Bomba House - Wednesday 26th

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Hello, nice to be back to live internet again !! yesterday journey from Kuusamo to Nurmes, on the way we made a stop at an outside art gallery of sorts .. to view the "Silent People" -  The Silent People moved to their present home in the autumn of 1994. The peat-heads are kept in good shape and have their clothing attended to twice a year; their heads come straight from the field, their clothes from organised collections. The Silent People are made and clothed by the Suomussalmi Youth Workshop, which also takes care of their maintenance. 

People often ask what precisely is the idea behind the Silent People. A state of psycho-logical withdrawal? The mute Kainuu soul? A forgotten people? Reijo Kela refuses to provide any answer. Each viewer is free to come to his own conclusions. It may, however, be of interest to learn that if the Silent People were to be completely undressed there would remain some one thousand wooden crosses standing in the field.


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The Silent People 
After the visit we then drove to Suomussalmi village, we visited a outdoor House Museum - The Suomussalmi House Museum is located in Kirkkoniemi, Suomussalmi church village. It was opened in 1967. None of the museum buildings stood originally in Kirkkoniemi, where the first church of Suomussalmi was built, but they have been moved to their present site one by one from various villages of Suomussalmi. According to the plan of the museum there will be a total of 18 buildings when the area is completed. At the moment 16 buildings are already erected in the site. The museum gives an idea of how people lived in the 18th and 19th century in Suomussalmi. 

Later in the day after lunch in the pleasant town of Kajanni, we arrived in Nurmes at our hotel Sokos Bomba, a reconstructed area from the Karelian Times. Accommodation is in chalet style log cabins, meals are served in the main building known as the Bomba House. We were met by a Guide - Minna, and taken for a walk into the woods to visit the Orthodox Church, we were later entertained by a local troupe of young girls, performing traditional Karelian Folk dances, this followed by a musical performance of the Cantelle, a beautiful sounding instrument. 

Time for dinner - typical Karelian style food served from the buffet. 

Then it was of to bed in my little log cabin .... but unfortunately it was more like a sauna ...  there is more on the way ..... time for a short photo break ...... 

Orthodox Church - Bomba 
Bomba House 


Log Cabins




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