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Founded: 1746Category: Industrial sites in Finland
Historical period: The Age of Enlightenment (Finland)
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In 1746 Brynolf Brunou was granted to establish an ironworks to the Juankoski rapids. Juankoski was in the periphery of Sweden borderlands with no roads or cities. Water routes were the only way to transport goods. Juankoski became the only ironworks in Finland which used only the bog iron to manufacture different kind of tools.
The heyday of Juankoski was between 1851 and 1900 when it was owned by Anastasia Ponomareva, a Russian aristocrat. In her time the manufacturing process became more efficient and better transport routes were built to ship products. The village around grown to 1,000 inhabitants. The iron manufacturing ended in 1915 when Juankoski was acquired by Kemi Oy and moved to carton mill.
The ironworks area is a well-preserved sample of the industrialism history in Finland. The oldest building is the empire-style mansion built in 1826. The blast furnace is today a museum exhibiting the life of the ironworks society. There are also a bakery, cafe and handicraft shops. Guided walking tours are available in summer season.
Narikala is an ancient fortress overlooking Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and the Kura River. The fortress consists of two walled sections on a steep hill between the sulphur baths and the botanical gardens of Tbilisi. On the lower court there is the recently restored St Nicholas church. Newly built in 1996–1997, it replaces the original 13th-century church that was destroyed in a fire. The new church is of 'prescribed cross' type, having doors on three sides. The internal part of the church is decorated with the frescos showing scenes both from the Bible and history of Georgia.
The fortress was established in the 4th century and it was a Persian citadel. It was considerably expanded by the Umayyads in the 7th century and later, by king David the Builder (1089–1125). Most of extant fortifications date from the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1827, parts of the fortress were damaged by an earthquake and demolished.