General information

Sortavala is a central town of Ladoga Karelia, historical and border area, belonging in different times to Sweden, Finland and Russia. In the vicinity of the town are located spectacular thousand-year cultural landscapes and hills with ruins of medieval fortresses. The project provides preservation, restoration and use for tourist purposes of the most valuable landscape components. It is expected that restored fortresses will give Sortavala image of an historic town with a thousand-year history (this status doesn't work yet), what can help local authorities attract tourists and investors.

These key objects are also to be a basis of tourist infrastructure of the area and the field of border co-operation. The both sides - Russian and Finnish - consider these landscapes as memorable places of an ancient and recent history of Karelians and Finns.

The main purpose of the project is to elaborate a program of protection of the major sites of cultural landscapes around Sortavala and of the whole Ladoga Karelia. It is necessary to specify firstly a list of key cultural objects, to determine recreational zones and their borders. Then calculations of recreational capacity of these zones, as well as a degree of their museum value and the investment interest should be made. Other important question concerns the restoration of the fortresses, being now in ruins, their adaptation for tourist use. The adjoining territories also require the arrangement for visitors. As a whole efforts will be directed on creation of a complete and efficient system of tourism in the area. We hope with the help of Finnish partners to find ways to revive a system of "landscape tourism" created and successfully working in Ladoga Karelia when it was part of Finland (especially in 1910-1930). The task is to restore historic travel itineraries, to recollect sights, well-known then and forgotten now. One more task is to raise the awareness of the general public and local people of the value of landscapes that also may be achieved by means of the appropriate materials of the Finnish side.

Existing needs and problems

The town of Sortavala in the Finnish period of its history (till 1939) was a cultural and tourist centre of Ladoga Karelia. After the cession of the territory to Russia it has lost much of its value. The Soviet administration and new inhabitants had neither sufficient experience nor information to assess and to manage cultural and tourist resources. Therefore the most valuable landscape sights have not been used for tourist purpose; historic monuments are now under threat of destruction. In order to restore the former tourist infrastructure, it is necessary to reach the positive attitude of the population to old cultural values and to get administrative experience of management. On the other hand, citizens, municipal organisations and experts of Finland have at their disposal information which is lacking in Russia. The same must be said about the Finnish experience in tourism. Co-operation in the border area is a necessary condition for solving problems of landscape sites protection and for searching of new resources and investments, creating the new workplaces in sphere of tourism. Finnish and Russian tourist companies will be able to use cultural sites of Ladoga Karelia, including transit tours Russia - Fennoscandia. However, there is no identical approach concerning direct participation of the Finns in tourist use of landscape sights. Lack of joint programs and actions produces obstacles for investments in tourism.

Semi-panorama of a thousand-year cultural landscape from the top of the fortress hill Paaso. At the foreground one can obviously see some pits left by "black archaeologists". They used a metal detector. Hundreds of pits mean for sure hundreds of antique objects dug out of the ground.

At the same time, tourist companies from other regions of Russia have an increasing interest in cultural landscapes of Sortavala, using them often chaotically and uncontrollably. There is a real threat of destruction of the memorable places. Karelia's historic landscapes are subject to loss and change through inappropriate uses, insensitive development and even vandalism. That especially concerns the remains of medieval fortresses and archaeological sites. In 2003 " black archaeologists " have caused the big damage to monuments in a suburb of Sortavala.

Background of the project

In 1990 - the beginning of 2000 several Finnish-Russian projects on a problem of preservation, use and development of this territory have been carried out. However final materials of projects, including TASIS program have not been introduced in practice and are waiting for realisation. Above named major sites of historic landscapes will be fixed as a basis of the future programme. The work can be additionally supported by the Law of the Russian Federation accepted in June, 2002 "About objects of cultural heritage (monuments of history and culture) of peoples of the Russian Federation ". The law is based on the European standards. Also the new Ground Code of the Russian Federation and other important laws are based on the international rules of preservation and use of landscape historical sights. These laws should promote an effective teamwork, aiming to create joint programs of tourist use of cultural values of Sortavala and Ladoga Karelia.