Raatteen portti, Suomussalmi, Finland

Raatteen portti ("Raate Gate") is a memorial and museum for those Finnish and Russian soldiers who battled and died in Suomussalmi during Winter War in 1939. The exhibition consists Finnish and Russian weapons and uniforms, photographs and soldiers´ belongings. There is also a multimedia of the Raate battle fields, a scale model of the Raate Museum Road and the Winter War Monument.

Address

Raatteentie 2-4, Suomussalmi, Finland

See all sites in Suomussalmi

Details

Founded: 1939
Category: Museums in Finland
Historical period: Independency (Finland)

More Information

www.raatteenportti.fi
www.museot.fi

Rating

4.3/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby

Värikallio Rock Paintings (74,1 km)

User Reviews

Carolus Syrjäniemi (21 months ago)
Really a fascinating place reminding us of one of the most well known Finnish winter war victories. I highly recommend to visit this place which also has a really friendly customer service personnel.

Mirja Roti (2 years ago)
Must see place.

Patxo Sans (2 years ago)
Great battlesite and great museum.

Jaakko Jaatinen (2 years ago)
Nice and informative little museum. Make sure to watch the 15 minute video. The 'munkki' with a cup of coffee afterwords is super good. I had sugar all over my face afterwords. Do not miss the munkki. Extremely nice person on duty. She let us enjoy a second munkki after hours. Yes.

Benke Verhoef (2 years ago)
Very interesting museum about the winter war. What I liked most was that besides some general information about the winter war there was a lot of information and displays about very local things. It really shows on a personal level how the people of the small towns around here lived and fought for their country. The winter war monument outside is also a must see if you're in the area. Very impressive.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Peer.Gynt

Historic Site of the week

Saint Sophia Cathedral

The St Sophia's Cathedral was built between 1045-1050 inside the Novgorod Kremlin (fortress). It is one of the earliest stone structures of northern Russia. Its height is 38 m. Originally it was taller, for during the past nine centuries the lower part of the building became concealed by the two-metre thick cultural layer. The cathedral was built by Prince Vladimir, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, and until the 1130s this principal church of the city also served as the sepulchre of Novgorodian princes. For the Novgorodians, St Sophia became synonymous with their town, the symbol of civic power and independence.

The five-domed church looks simpler but no less impressive than its prototype, the thirteen-domed St Sophia of Kiev. The cathedral exterior is striking in its majesty and epic splendour evoking the memories of Novgorod's glorious past and invincible might. In the 11th century it looked more imposing than now. Its facade represented a gigantic mosaic of huge, coarsely trimmed irregular slabs of flagstone and shell rock. In some places (particularly on the apses), the wall was covered with mortar, smoothly polished, drawn up to imitate courses of brick or of whitestone slabs, and slightly coloured. As a result, the facade was not white, as it is today, but multicoloured. The play of stone, decorative painting and the building materials of various texture enhanced the impression of austere simplicity and introduced a picturesque effect.

The two-storied galleries extend along the building's southern, western and northern sides, with a stair-tower constructed at the north-eastern corner. The cathedral has three entrances - the southern, western and northern, of which the western was the main one intended for ceremonial processions. A gate standing at the entrance is known as the Sigtuna Gate (mid-12th century); according to legend, it was brought from the Swedish town of Sigtuna in 1187. The second name of the gate derives from the town of Magdeburg, where it was made. The two leaves are decorated with biblical and evangelical scenes in cast bronze relief. In the lower left corner there are portraits of the craftsmen who created this superb specimen of medieval Western European bronze-work. An inscription in Latin gives their names, Riquin and Weissmut. The small central figure - judging from an inscription in Slavonic - is a representation of the Russian master craftsman Avraam, who assembled the gate.

There is yet another bronze gate in the cathedral, called the Korsun Gate. Made in the 11th century in Chersonesos, Byzantium, it leads from the southern gallery into the Nativity Side-Chapel. Legend has it that the gate was handed over to Novgorod as a gift of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (c. 978 - 1054).

The interior of the cathedral is as majestic as its exterior. It is divided by huge piers into five aisles, three of which end in altar apses. In the south-western corner, inside the tower, there is a wide spiral in relatively small, modest buildings of the 12th - 16th centuries.

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Raatteen portti