Parikkala Patsaspuisto

On July 11, 2016, we had border crossing with Finland, near the city of Imatra.
It's a small city, but very interesting...
There are several museums and churches in the city, but the main attraction is the waterfall "Imatrankoski", which is on the Vuoksi river.

So, if you'll be here, be sure to visit the city and look at the dam and waterfall.
But we were already in Imatra, and now we have come to buy foods for camping.

The camping was located near the town of Punkaharju, it is about 100 km from Imatra.
The road 6 ran through scenic places, among forests...

Not far from the town of Parikkala, right by the road, there is a very interesting place - the Parikkala Sculpture Park "Patsaspuisto".
Here are the parking lot coordinates: 61°29'03.1"N, 29°28'54.5"E

We leave the car and read the poster...
Here is a park of sculptures created by the Finnish self-taught artist Veijo Ronkkonen.
http://www.patsaspuisto.net

More than 500 sculptures from a concrete are in the park.
These are sculptures of adults and children in different bizarre poses.

Here is the entrance to the park...

A visit to the park is free of charge, but you can make a donation for the maintenance of the park, leaving a few coins.

The artist Veiho Ronkkonen (1944-2010) lived here all his life, and he created all these sculptures for 50 years.
He chose a reclusive way of life and this was reflected in his works.

Many sculptures are disguised self-portraits of the artist.

The exhibition of sculptures can be divided into several groups.
Yoga group (near entrance) consists of 255figures in various yoga positions, each reminiscent of the artist.

They say that these sculptures are also self-portraits...

We were going to the next group of sculptures...

The trail overgrown with grass leads us to a meadow, to the artist's house.

A group of full-size sculptures "adults people" meets us...

The sculptures are very peculiar and not very realistic, with sunken eyes and skeletal proportions.

Some sculptures are located separately...

There are sculptures of trees and animals in the park...

We came to a meadow, where the house of Veijo Ronkkonen is located.

After a hard work, the artist rested on this bench...

Sculptures of children are in the courtyard of the house...

The drummer leads the children's sculpture group...

You can learn the history of the park, leave feedback and buy souvenirs in the house on a meadow.

Well, what can I say to you?...
The park is very unusual and left an ambiguous impression, but the originality and uniqueness of the artist's works attract thousands of visitors.
In sculptures of Veijo Ronkkonen are combining mysticism and folk motifs of that part of Finland where he was born and lived his whole life.
This is the region of a thousand lakes - Saimaa.