JAATSI’S HISTORY FROM BOY TO ARTIST JAATSI IN OFFICIAL USE

Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s parents Peter Wilhelm and Akseli’s father, Peter Wilhelm, was ahead of his time The rural police chief of Tyrvää at the time, Johan Mathilda Gallén and their family owned and lived in in many ways, and he was involved in establishing many Jakob Selander, bought Jaatsi from Gallén’s widow, as Jaatsi 1867-1884. new projects. He started the first dairy on his estate well as the Vänni and Väkkärä estates. During those and was also instrumental in establishing Tyrvää’s first years enthusiastic local man Väinö Selander grew up in As a young man P.W. Gallén was rural chief of police library, which remained at Jaatsi until 1958. Peter Jaatsi. A few years later the Väkkäri groundswere for the crown in Tyrvää. After the death of his wife Wilhelm died suddenly on a trip in 1879, aged only purchased for building a railway station and tracks. A in 1855 he married Mathilda Wahlroos. In 1862 the 62. Akseli’s mother was naturally artistic and, notic- cattle rearing school was established at Vänni. Senate of the Grand Principality of Finland named him ing Akseli’s artistic talent, Mathilda encouraged her Treasurer for the Bank of Finland in Pori. In Decem- son to pursue art and had no objections when he The time of officials in Jaatsi continued. After the ber 1867 Gallén left the Bank of Finland and the changed schools to attend drawing school. Selanders the estate was owned by the Savonius family. family moved back to Tyrvää. Akseli was under three The next owner was the municipality of Tyrvää, which years old at the time. During the fairytale years at Jaatsi Akseli drew and bought Jaatsi from the heirs to the Savonius estate in painted diligently. The most famous works of this time 1920. This property deal was particularly significant for During the years of the great famine 1867-68, are the painting of his sister ’Sitting Girl from Be- Tyrvää, as the building where the municipality’s meet- Tyrvää’s rural chief of police P. W. Gallén commis- hind’, ’Boats on the Shore’, ’Rotted Zander’ and ’Peo- ings were previously held, Hopun rustholli, was de- sioned a manor house-style main building on the Jaatsi ple’s Meal at Sipi’s House´. Akseli painted his famous stroyed by fire in 1918. estate, amid the fir trees in the heart of a dense work ’Boy with the Crow’, which opened the doors to forest. The new workplace and home was completed on art school in Paris, in Tyrvää in 1884, whilst spending The municipality of Tyrvää continued to be run from a south-facing slope on the hilly land, where the fast summer at Sipi’s house. In the same year Mathilda Jaatsi right up to 1973, when Tyrvää and Karkku were flowing Vammaskoski rapids slowed into the calm Gallén had to sell the undivided Jaatsi estate and joined to form the Town of Vammala. After this Jaatsi Liekovesi. The new house was made of timber but other farmlands. was used for commercial and temporary uses. looks like a stone building, because the outside was rendered. A layer of bricks was laid in front of the timber. The perforated bricks were made onsite and JAATSI’S ROAD TO SASTAMALA attached to the timber with nails through the holes in the bricks. After negotiations with the National Board of Antiqui- ties and the Gallén museum foundation, the Town of Vammala decided in 1985 that Jaatsi and its surround- AKSELI’S CHILDHOOD HOME ing park lands would be renovated and used as a place to exhibit the town’s art collections. Jaatsi was opened The Jaatsi house was the ideal environment for the to the public 125 years after Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s artist-to-be to grow up in. The large evergreen firs birth. Thanks to local associations, a statue of Akseli shielded the gardens from the cold winds. On the 2 Gallen-Kallela now stands in the park. south side was a large garden, which Akseli’s mother, Mathilda, was particularly fond of, and where she Today Jaatsi is the Town of Sastamala’s cultural cen- planted many decorative trees and countless apple tre, hosting exhibitions, concerts and events. The trees. The views over the waters, islands, beaches town’s cultural services office is also in the building. and bulrushes of Liekovesi, the Vammaskoski rapids and Tyrvää Church were firmly imprinted on Akseli’s A plaque on the wall of the Jaatsi house reminds coming mind as he was growing up. generations that ’This Jaatsi house, which since 1920 has been used by the municipality of Tyrvää, was built The sights, scents and sounds of the many outbuild- by Peter Wilhelm Gallén during the time of the birth of ings, barn, stable and grain stores gave the lively boy municipal self-government, in the years of the great something to do and explore. The Gallén boys were famine 1867-1868.’ known to be very active; when the commotion started to be too much for their father, the boys would be The Town of Sastamala warmly welcomes visitors to driven to their own den, ’The Rat’s Cabin’. culturally and historically significant Jaatsi. The walls of Jaatsi are steeped in creativity; here is space, room to breathe, beautiful grounds and gardens. To borrow from poet Kaarlo Sarkia, ’something immortal must have touched the soil of the ground’. 3

Jaatsi is the childhood home of Finland’s The Town of Sastamala National Artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Cultural Centre As it says on the plaque embedded into a natural stone in Jaatsi’s gardens, ’The great illustrator of the people JAATSI

Akseli Gallen-Kallela grew from cradle to manhood around these parts’. Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s Childhood Home Jaatsi’s gardens feature a statue of 4 Tyrvää Municipal Centre

Akseli Gallen-Kallela, cast bronze head, Alpo and Nina Sailo, 1927/1960

* * * Near Jaatsi: Sastamala Region local museum EXHIBITIONS Jaatsinkatu 2 38210 Sastamala

Jaatsi’s exhibition space hosts Museum open by appointment Contact and booking: changing exhibitions or the town’s +358 400 389 553 own collections. Tourism: 1 Normally open Tue-Sun 12pm - 6pm, Tel. +358 50 304 0485 Tourism Secretary,

check times by telephone. Puistokatu 10, 38200 Sastamala Jaatsi W e l c o m e ! Sources: Gallen-Kallelan katu 1 Kirsti Gallen-Kallela: 38210 Sastamala My Father, Akseli Gallen-Kallela Tel. +358 50 320 8462 Manager of Cultural Kokemäki River Valley cultural guide course Services material 2005-2006: ’Let’s praise the whole Tel. +358 40 517 1671 and +358 40 712 8173, river and its people’ help and information The Town of Sastamala Office open: Photographs: Pekka Koskinen Thursdays and Fridays 9am – 3pm. www.sastamalankaupunki.fi English: Steven Buckingham - www.britti.fi We are happy to serve also on other days, when Town of Sastamala, 6/2012 we are present. Groups also by appointment.