Tarvaspään ateljeehuvila (Ateljévillan Tarvaspää)

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

Tarvaspää, designed by the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela for himself, is one of the most significant studio villas in Finland from the early 20th century.

Tarvaspää stands at the highest point of the Linuddin-niemi peninsula, which belonged to the Alberga manor, on the shore of Laajalahti. Gallen-Kallela combined influences from medieval stone churches, castles and a Firenze loggia in the stone, castle-like main building of Tarvaspää. In the same courtyard is Villa Linudd, a villa originally built for the Alberga manor in the 1850s, whose exterior dates from the 1860-70s. Tarvaspää is surrounded by high stone embankments. On the shore is a sauna designed by Gallen-Kallela, partly dug into the shore embankment.

Tarvaspää houses the Gallen-Kallela Museum, which organises changing art exhibitions. The exhibitions make the artist's life's work known both through the present day and through the artist's contemporaries. Gallen-Kallela's second studio home, Kalela, dating from 1895, is located in a wilderness landscape in Ruovesi.

History

At Tarvaspää, Gallen-Kallela fulfilled a dream of his youth: "In the hidden depths of the wilderness I would like to own a castle with a battlemented ridge, with a tower of grey stone, of pine and oak wood. There I would like to sit alone, brooding over my thoughts, spend a few hours in the laboratory at my crucibles and a few in the library, and in the rest of the day forging, painting and carving."

The Tarvaspää studio building was constructed in 1911-13 on a site with an unobstructed view of Laajalahti, according to drawings prepared by Gallen-Kallela himself. When completed, the building was modern; it had central heating and running water, although it lacked a kitchen entirely. Tarvaspää had in fact been planned from the outset as a museum building. The studio extension and the renovation of the house were completed in 1930. Tarvaspää opened as a museum in 1961.

The Fiskarstuga tupa, located in the same courtyard and once belonging to the Alberga manor, was built in the 1850s. It was extended into the Villa Linudd summer villa in 1867-75, when it received its present nikkari-style exterior.