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 The former Townhall
The Town Hall We met in front of the Town Hall at 6pm where the crowds of Finns were waiting to go on the Finnish-language tour and two other people – a Frenchman and his Finnish girlfriend – awaiting the English-language one. We were eventually hesitantly approached by a retired, female teacher holding a picture folder who introduced herself and began. As the Finnish language guide stood by the Town Hall, shouting dramatically for his largish audience the English-language guide used a dead-pan humorous style which we all eventually warmed to. The tour, which lasted two hours, revealed some fascinating information about the buildings in Oulu. Apparently, the Town Hall was originally a hotel and theatre and horses would have been tied up where the fountain now stands. The fountain itself only got there because a nineteenth century Scottish visitor got really drunk and promised to donate it. Behind the Town Hall is a pink building which used to be the Town Hall and, though built at about the same time as its yellow successor, had its distinctive gothic features added later, as our guide pointed out. She also explained to us about the multiple miniature statues behind the Town Hall and how they represent the history of Oulu, with its tar industry, church, university and even technology industry represented in the statuettes. They were put there to celebrate the city’s 400th anniversary two years ago. Sara Wacklin After that, she took us to statue of Franzen in the park near the Cathedral and told us about the former bishop’s place in the city’s history. Here, she also pointed out that the nearby school dated back to the 1600s when it was boys only and that the Franzen Restaurant used to be a school founded by Finland-Swede writer Sara Wacklin (1790-1846). She kept founding schools but they kept burning down and things burning down was, according to the guide, quite important in Oulu history as most of the city was lost in a fire in 1820 and then again during World War II when it was bombed. Throughout the tour, she showed us interesting pictures of things like Oulu nineteenth century labourers or the fire of 1820. Oulu Cathedral  Then we walked quickly to the Cathedral itself in an attempt to get there before the service started. Our guide told us that with another group they’d all run at this point and she’d fallen over though, ‘It didn’t hurt that bad.’ However, she showed the massive bruises on her legs and it looked pretty painful to me.
In the Cathedral itself, there was some kind of rehearsal so she explained its history to us in the doorway – the original Cathedral had burnt down and before Oulu even existed there was a church on that spot that was in the congregation of Liminka, which was the main town in the areas in the 1500s. Apparently, the Cathedral is more colourful and decorated than most Lutheran Churches. The Oulu Island After the Cathedral, we made our way to Ainolapuisto – Oulu’s main park – to see Oulu’s Islands. There we saw Sara Wacklin’s House, which is now used by Student Societies and for functions and is apparently haunted by Wacklin. She died there and there have been many spooky reports by those who there. We learnt about an Italian adventurer who came to Oulu at the turn of the nineteenth century and reported that people ski everywhere and about Wacklin’s book about Oulu people which was apparently ‘a bit too honest’ and upset some people at the time. She also told us about the museum – which used to be the city library. Oulu Castle/Café If anyone tells you that Oulu has no castle then correct them because that was our next port of call. Surrounded by bikers having their regular Wednesday evening meeting in the open air, Tornikahvila (the wooden tower shaped building on Linnasaari) is now a café. It was built was as an observatory but on that spot had stood Oulu’s small castle. The building’s visible foundations are those of the castle, which you can look around at certain times of year. Finally, I got to see an ancient Finnish castle, and it sold Fanta at quite a reasonable price. Unfortunately, our tour guide got a bit a lost taking us out of the park so we didn’t have time to see Pikkisaari. She did offer to extend the tour to take this in but the others didn’t seem interested in it. The guide did tell us, however, there are many artists working there and lots of old buildings have been deliberately placed there to give the island its old world feel. The Market Then we made our way to the market and our guide told us about how annoyed she was about many of its old buildings being burnt down – which she thought was deliberate arson in some cases – and how it led to protests which stopped the remaining the old buildings being destroyed. After that, she explained how much she liked doing touring in English and then just left. It was the first tour I’d been on where the guide didn’t even hint at being tipped and there was no ‘agenda,’ such as being shown round a church – for free – by an evangelising Mormon. So, I think all those were very impressed by it. But an even longer tour would have been fantastic and I’m sure people would have been prepared to pay. There were so many historical sites that the tour didn’t take in – we didn’t even walk down Rotuari, the main street or talk about ‘the Market Inspector’ statue – and lots of current events, such the engineering student ‘baptism’ in the park at Vappu, which tourists might have been interested in but which the guide didn’t mention. And there are many interesting Oulu sites which you’d need a coach and far more time to take in. However, this tour – especially considering it was free and seemingly conducted by a dryly humorous woman who did it for the pure enjoyment of it – was very good and I’d recommend going while it’s still on. The ‘Oulu Guided Walking Tour in English’ is on Wednesday evening at 6pm, outside the Town Hall until the end of August.
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