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The Liehtalanniemi Museum Estate is located in Niinisaari, approx.
14 km from downtown Puumala towards Imatra. People have lived in
Liehtalanniemi since 1899. The buildings on the estate are from
the turn of the 19th century. Liehtalanniemi was converted into a
museum and a 22-ha nature reserve was established in 1984. The
museum is owned and run by the municipality of Puumala.
Liehtalanniemi is a unique example of the way of life on a small,
out-of-the-way farm at the turn of the 20th century, as it has
preserved the traditional farm infrastructure with its group of
old grey buildings, its patches of field, its old slash-and-burn
forests and grazing pastures with their traditional structures.
Besides the main building, the estate also has a barn, a hay barn,
a smoke sauna and a clothing and food storehouse. The current main
building has been expanded and converted from a one-room house
built in the mid 1940s into a two-room house. In addition, the
museum now has a potato cellar, a net shed, two frames for drying
hay, a draw well and a kota.
Liehtalanniemi is a working museum: during the summer, the estate
is full of animals and environmental work is done using
traditional methods. In the future, too, effort will be put into
preserving the estate as a high-quality nature and cultural
protection site.
Liehtala’s last full-time resident was the eccentric hermit
Jalmari Reponen, who lived on the estate from 1948 to 1976.
Reponen is still remembered in Puumala.
A marked nature path is near the museum in the nature preserve. In
addition, it is possible to spend the night on the shore of the
museum grounds on a boat, on the beach or in a tent. Furthermore,
there is also a wine farm, a restaurant, a smithy & gallery, a
porcelain atelier, etc., nearby.
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