Sortavala Old Town

Sortavala was a Finnish town until 1940, and its centre was built in the decades before that by Finnish architects working in national romantic and then functionalist idioms - so what stands is a concentration of interwar Nordic architecture unusual on the Russian side of the border. Eliel Saarinen designed the former bank; Uno Ullberg and others left banks, a town hall in wood of 1885, a fire station, schools and apartment blocks in granite and render, along streets laid on a grid above the lake. The population was evacuated to Finland in 1940 and again in 1944, and the town was resettled from elsewhere in the Soviet Union, so the buildings and the people who live in them have separate histories. Condition varies sharply: some buildings restored, others visibly decaying. The town is also the mainland port for Valaam and the base for the Ruskeala marble park.

What you actually see

• The Finnish centre - national romantic and functionalist buildings of the interwar decades.
• The Saarinen bank - a building by the architect who later worked in the United States.
• The 1885 town hall - a wooden building surviving in the centre.
• The population break - a town evacuated in 1944 and resettled from elsewhere.

When to go

June to September. Half a day for the centre, longer as a base for Valaam and Ruskeala.

Honest expectations

Many buildings are in poor repair and none are museums of themselves; you are looking at them from the street. Interpretation of the Finnish period is thin. The town is small with limited food and accommodation, and busy in summer with Valaam and Ruskeala traffic.

Nearby

Ruskeala marble park is north; boats to Valaam leave from the harbour.