In the footsteps of Aalto on Lake Päijänne

Do you want to arrive at the summer residence of the world-famous architect Alvar Aalto in Muuratsalo with your family and friends, as Aalto did in his time?

In the 1950s, there wasn’t even a road leading to Alvar and Elissa Aalto’s newly finished so-called Experimental House, only forest paths. So, Aalto designed a boat for himself: “Nemo Propheta in Patria”, to travel from Säynätsalo main island to Muuratsalo island. The fine, architectural boat can be seen today in its glass showcase in the port of Jyväskylä.

Today, the Experimental House, also on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, is a popular place to visit. You can get quite close along the asphalt road. The last few hundred meters are still walked along the forest path.

However, the original way to arrive at Experimental House is still by boat from the lake. The building is designed to reveal itself and its character best when we reach the mighty Velakallio on a pier like the original.

Aalto’s boat can no longer make the journey, but you can still take a unique boat trip from Säynätsalo Town Hall, one of Aalto’s most significant gems of modern architecture from the 1950s.

The Town Hall’s tourism operator, Tavolo Bianco Ltd, is responsible, as evidenced by the right to use the Sustainable Travel Finland (STF) brand. Thus, the journey ends leisurely, looking at the beautiful landscapes of Päijänne, respecting nature’s silence. Boats equipped with more powerful engines that slide on the surface of the water slip by, but after the fuss dies down, your boat’s silence becomes even more pronounced. The goal is to replace the motor with an electric one as long as their technology and batteries become established and prices fall.

The journey from Säynätsalo harbour to Experimental House takes about 20 minutes.

Arriving at Experimental House, nestling in the haven of Velakallio, we are in balance and harmony with the surrounding nature, as Aalto would have wished.