A Border Region Between the East and the West

Ilomantsi lies on Finland’s eastern border, where people have lived between East and West for centuries. Here, Finland shares a 100-kilometre-long border with Russia. Cultural encounters and shifting geopolitics have shaped Ilomantsi into a uniquely diverse region with many layers and stories. 

Eastern influences are strongly present in our culinary traditions. For today’s travellers, this heritage is best experienced through the local pie and pastry tradition. Where else in Finland could you find delicacies such as kukkonen or vatruska. 

Parppeinvaara Rune Singer’s Village combines the distinctive features of Karelian culture: kantele music, handicrafts, Orthodox traditions, and traditional cuisine. Its main exhibition, "Treasures of Mekrijärvi," presents outstanding examples of both natural and cultural heritage. 

Our national epic, the Kalevala, was awarded the European Heritage Label by the European Commission in 2024. Parppeinvaara Rune Singer’s Village is one of the partners involved in the project linked to this designation. 

Hattuvaara brings geography and geopolitics remarkably close. This is where you will find the easternmost point of the continental European Union. On the shores of Lake Virmajärvi, you are literally standing between East and West. 

North of the border markers, the border follows the line defined between Sweden-Finland and Russia in the 1617 Treaty of Stolbovo. To the south, the border was established by the Moscow Peace Treaty after the Winter War in 1940. 

War has left a deep mark on Ilomantsi, and the 150-kilometer-long Battlegrounds Trail is one of the most extensive  World War II military-historical environments in Northern Europe. 

Last year, the Battlegrounds Trail was incorporated into the Council of Europe's cultural route, Liberation Route Europe, which is maintained by the LRE Foundation. The foundation aims to preserve both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of World War II, and Ilomantsi contributes a significant concentration of wartime sites and landscapes to this international network. 

For visitors, eastern Ilomantsi offers an endless variety of sights and experiences, from recent history to the present day. 

You are warmly welcome! 

Mayor Marjut Ahokas