Saaren kartano ja kansanpuisto

English translation (from the Finnish)

The text above is the record as published by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), in Finnish. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto); it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

The Saari manor environment has been inhabited and cultivated since the Middle Ages, and is a landscape-significant entity comprising the farm complex, a unified group of buildings, gardens, roads, bridges and nature parks. The manor and its surroundings are also associated with phases of significance in terms of personal and cultural history.

Saari manor lies on an island between Pyhäjärvi and Kuivajärvi in Tammela, which is now connected to the mainland by the Venesilta isthmus. The main road leading south from Kirkonkylä runs along the boundary between the island's cultivated landscape and forest. Numerous Stone Age settlement sites are known from the manor's surroundings, as well as a village site that preceded the manor.

The manor's main building, farm complex and park lie in the open field landscape facing Kuivajärvi. The main building of the manor, completed in the early 19th century, is two-storeyed, mansard-roofed and has a white-rendered frame. The facade has pilaster articulation. The main building is surrounded by a park extending down to the shore. Around the farmyard stands a two-storeyed, gambrel-roofed residential building built in the late 18th century. A two-storeyed office building dates from the 1920s. The farmyard also includes brick cowshed and stable buildings.

The park's layout is based on plans made by Paul Olsson in the 1920s and 1940s. The central axis of the main building is emphasised to the south by a classicist, parasol-roofed garden pavilion built on the lakeshore, and to the north by a grain storehouse with a clock tower, the so-called leipäkirkko, from the 1790s. The outbuildings form their own group at the edge of the forest.

Along the approach road lined with broadleaf trees stands the Fabritius villa, built in the 1920s. On the shore of Seikkolinnanmäki is a villa built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The hip-roofed main building of the Kankaiset horse farm, attached to the manor, is the former main building of the manor, built in the 18th century and moved to its present site in the early 19th century. The Kankaiset farmyard also includes granary and threshing barn buildings.

The manor is essentially linked with the people's park with observation towers founded by the manor in 1932, on the south side of Saarensalmi. The natural beauty of Kaukolanharju has been depicted by many Finnish artists, such as Albert Edelfelt, R.W. Ekman and Magnus von Wright. The people's park also originally had a private summer theatre, as well as the Lounais-Hämeen pirtti. The spandrel-arch reinforced concrete bridge over Saarensalmi is part of the Saari manor milieu.

The Saari manor landscape is part of the nationally significant landscape area known as "Mustiala - Porras - Kaukolanharju".

History

Saari Manor was formed in 1559 from six farms; the village's seventh farm was added to the manor in 1650. The Kankainen ratsutila farm to the north was joined to the manor in 1793, and the manor's old main building was transferred to the ratsutila.

The island also briefly served as the official farm of a ratsumestari of the ruotujakoarmeija. It was defined as a hereditary holding at the end of the 18th century. Construction of the present main building began in 1805 during the time of Colonel Lagerborg, and the building was finally completed in 1820 during the time of Captain Lepsen. The log frame of the building was faced with brick panels, which were rendered. The mansard-roofed building, decorated with a wide pediment, is associated with Gustavian manor architecture.

The road passing Saari Manor branches off from Vanha Härkätie at the southern end of Kuivajärvi. The road had already been cleared in the 18th century. The reinforced concrete bridge with supporting arches above Saarensalmi was completed in 1923 to designs by the building firm Oy Granit. The bridge has been protected as part of a nature conservation area since 1992.

Kaukolanharju was a popular viewpoint already in the late 19th century. The Lounais-Hämeen kotiseutu- ja museoyhdistys had an observation tower built on Kaukolanharju, on the Saari Manor lands, in 1923 to the drawings of Forssa building master A. Numme. The tower later passed to the administration of Tammela municipality. Saari People's Park was founded in 1932 by manor owner Erik von Frenckell. The park was sold to the town of Forssa and Tammela municipality in 1980. The Lounais-Hämeen pirtti was built in the park in 1946-1948, and an open-air theatre was built there to designs by architect Veikko Kyander.

Erik von Frenckell (1887-1977) was a central figure in Finnish sport. Among other things, he played a key role in Finland being awarded the Summer Olympics, first in 1940, which were cancelled, and then in 1952, which were held. Eerikkälä sports institute in Tammela is named after Suomen Palloliitto's chairman at the time and former owner of the land, Erik von Frenckell. Eerikkilä was inaugurated in 1947.