Raahe
photo © Visit Raahe
Tourism in Raahe & Raahe Archipelago
Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, Raahe is a seaside town famous for its old wooden town centre. Known as the Town of Sea Winds, Raahe is a cosy, welcoming town with much to offer visiting tourists. There are several museums to visit, Raahe Museum, Sovelius House, Saloinen Museum, Ojala Museum and the Old Pharmacy. Raahe has a fine guest harbour and you can charter the Fiia of Raahe, a 21,5 meters long topsail schooner, or other more common craft. The beautiful Raahe archipelago, which is right in front of the town, consists of around 50 small islands and islets. Highlights in Raahe’s events calendar include Raahe Music Week, Jazz on the Beach Festival, the Brahe Classica and Pekka’s Day.
Tourist attractions Raahe
Old Town Raahe is one of the best-preserved 19th-century wooden towns in Finland. Not a museum area but a living town district, Old Raahe tells the tale of the construction of a town and life in it from centuries ago to the modern day.
Cultural Attractions in Raahe
Even without the delightful Old Town, Raahe has a wealth of cultural attractions to captivate visitors. In Raahe, you can discover the history of the seaside city, shipping and trading. The Raahe Museum holds the distinction of being the oldest museum of cultural history in Finland, founded in 1862. The museum’s pride is ‘the Old Gentleman’, the oldest diving suit in world, made of leather and dating back to the 18th century. In the Saloinen Museum you’ll find a collection of artefacts and pictures recording the lives of local inhabitants exhibited among 18 old buildings, mostly relating the history of fishing and agriculture. The Ojala residence, built in 1800, has been a farm house, a shelter for the sick and the old, an old folks home, and is now a museum. Raahe also has an Old Pharmacy Museum containing one of Finland’s most valuable collections of apothecary jars, as well as equipment and instruments used in the preparation of medicines, and old pharmacy wrappings and packages.
Raahe boasts two churches designed by architect Josef Stenbäck, both completed in 1912, the granite Church of Raahe and the Pattijoki Church with the gold plated wooden altar piece, ‘Crucifixion of Christ’ is Tyrolean. In the Church of Saloinen you can view medieval pictures of saints and a Saint Cabinet from the 15th century which were rescued from the old church.
Events in Raahe
Raahe hosts a variety of different events throughout the year, starting with February’s Raahe Music Week, the very popular Jazz on the Beach festival held every July, and the Brahe Classica festival held every autumn. In April, the town comes alive to the Raahe Spring Market, and the weekend following Midsummer the locals celebrate Pekka’s Day. In October the Autumn Market is held, and there is also a Children’s Culture Week.
