Industrial Workers' Housing Museum

In the end of the 1800th century, industry that took its driving power from the Runsaskoski Vuoksi stream began to emerge in the Imatra region. Large-scale industry began to form when the joint-stock company Tornator started building industrial plants in 1895 after buying a farm on the banks of the Vuoksi, which included half of the Niskakoski and Tainionkoski waterfalls. The transformation of the region into an industrial area began.

In 1896 and in the following years, the company built approx. 20 residential buildings, which included several apartments, as apartments for its working population. This is how e.g. Ritikanranta residential area, whose buildings were called barracks. The apartments intended as family apartments included a room and a kitchen, as well as a pantry, with the entire apartment area being 20-25m2.

The company also built a sauna and a laundry room, which also had a mantel, and a bakery for the residents to use together. Nearby was a shop and later a post office, as well as a public school maintained by the company. The residential area was complemented by a market established in 1904.

In the VPK building built nearby by the company, there was an opportunity for leisure activities. Many cultural activities started there, such as a drama club, a horn band and a sports club. Later, films were also shown in the house.

Enso-Gutzeit Oy, into which Tornator merged in 1932, donated the area between Ritikanrantatie and Vuoksi to the city of Imatra as a museum area in the fall of 1972. In this area, the two remaining buildings were restored as the Industrial Workers' Housing Museum, which was completed and opened to the public in early May 1975.

The apartments in the apartment buildings represent the living style of different decades from the beginning of the 1900th century to the 1960s. The stone maintenance building has been restored to its original appearance.

The museum's objects have been received from local residents as donations. In this way, it has been possible to preserve the housing culture that the industrial working population had in the early decades of this century for future generations to see.

For visitors arriving by car

If you come by car, park your car in the parking lot south of the museum, where you drive through Tainiontori. The turning area at the end of Taimenkuja is narrower and is not intended for parking.