Things to find in Finland

What the map holds here

• Aarnivalkea, the fox fires Legend
  Finnish folklore says that on Midsummer night an aarnivalkea burns, a pale flame flickering over the spot where treasure lies buried, guarded and never consumed. To claim it you must find a fern in bloom, which ferns never do, so...
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• Ivalojoki gold Gem & mineral ground
  The river of the Finnish gold rush. Gold was found in the Ivalojoki in 1868 and the rush of 1870 filled this Arctic valley with diggers at “Kultala,” the gold camp whose Crown Station buildings still stand in the wilderness. The...
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• Kemi chrome mine Gem & mineral ground
  The only chrome mine in the European Union, at Kemi on the Gulf of Bothnia, sitting on one of the largest chromium deposits in Europe, discovered in 1959 by a local man who noticed heavy black sand. It supplies the stainless...
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• Lemmenjoki Lapland gold Gem & mineral ground
  Above the Arctic Circle in the wilderness of Finnish Lapland, the Lemmenjoki and Ivalojoki rivers had a real gold rush in the 1870s, and, remarkably, you can still pan them, Finland hosts the world gold-panning championships, and...
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• Luumaki gem beryl Gem & mineral ground
  A pegmatite in southeast Finland that produced the finest gem beryl in the Nordic countries: clear golden heliodor and blue-green aquamarine, cut into stones held in Finnish collections. Small, historic and largely worked out;...
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• Olavinlinna castle Haunted place
  A three-towered stone castle standing on a rock in the water at Savonlinna, built in 1475 to hold the Swedish-Russian frontier, and the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing. Its stories include a walled-up maiden...
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• Outokumpu copper Gem & mineral ground
  The ore body that rebuilt a nation. A drill core pulled from the Outokumpu ridge in eastern Finland in 1910 revealed a copper deposit so rich it became the foundation of Finnish industry and the company that still carries the...
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• Spectrolite, Ylamaa Gem & mineral ground
  Finland’s own gemstone. Spectrolite is a labradorite from the Ylamaa region in the southeast that flashes the entire spectrum, blues, greens, gold and rare red, against near-black stone, far stronger than ordinary labradorite. It...
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• Suomenlinna sea fortress Haunted place
  A great 18th-century island fortress guarding Helsinki, built by Sweden, taken by Russia, and now a UNESCO World Heritage site you reach by ferry. Its tunnels, bastions and the old Kings Gate carry the usual garrison ghosts, but...
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• Temppeliaukio, the Rock Church Cave
  Not a cave but a room blasted out of the living granite under a Helsinki city block, roofed with a copper spiral and lit by 180 skylights cut in the rock. The Finnish bedrock is so solid that Helsinki uses it constantly: there...
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• The Sampo of the Kalevala Legend
  Finland’s national epic, the Kalevala, gathered from ancient sung poetry, turns on the Sampo: a magical mill forged by the smith Ilmarinen that grinds out grain, salt and gold endlessly, a machine of pure abundance. The...
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• The Sampo raid and Pohjola Legend
  In the Kalevala, the far north country of Pohjola is the dark mirror of Finland: ruled by the sorceress Louhi, mistress of the North, who set the hero Ilmarinen to forge the Sampo and then hid it in a mountain of copper behind...
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Every one of these is sourced

Each entry links to the record it came from. Access rules, permits and land status vary by country and are noted where the source states them, check locally before you go.