Kallenaution kestikievari

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

The Kallenautio kestikievari is one of the best-known and best-preserved posting inns in Finland. Kallenautio illustrates the history of the country's travel system in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is also known from literature: the national poet J.L. Runeberg and the writer Z. Topelius both stayed at the kestikievari and described it.

The writer Zachris Topelius wrote about Kallenautio, which stands by the road between Orivesi and Ruovesi in a rugged forest district, in his short story Toholampi (in the collection Sumutarinoita): “In the middle of the wilderness stands the kestikievari, Kallenautio, whose name is in perfect harmony with the magnificent, rugged surroundings. To keep up its inn and horse-changing service, the kestikievari and both of its auxiliary farms enjoy tax exemption. On either side, for nearly two penikulma, there is level heathland and high hills. Closest to the north lies Paha virsta, which got its name from the fact that over a three-Russian-verst stretch there are forty uphill and as many downhill slopes, two of which are so steep and S-shaped that nature could hardly have devised more tempting places for carriages to overturn.”

The yard of the Kallenautio kestikievari is enclosed by buildings on all four sides. The old main road ran behind the main building. The main building contains a large living room (pirtti) of nearly 80 square metres, a porstuanperäkamari, and two chambers on the other side of the entrance hall. One of the chambers was reserved for gentlefolk. Accommodation for travellers was also provided in other buildings in the yard and in a row of aittas. On the other side of the yard is a pakaritupa building, which also contained a hollitupa. The log ratasliiteri has the year 1778 on its wall. Opposite it is a row of aittas with their luhti. The building stock of Kallenautio has included a sauna, a stable, a smithy, a riihi, latoja and other farm buildings.

History

The Längelmävesi region, to which Juupajoki belongs, was at the outermost edge of the settled area in the 16th century. In the 17th century two routes ran north of Orivesi: the Central Finland route and the Ostrobothnia route.

A farm (uudistalo) already stood on the site of the present Kallenautio kestikievari at the end of the 17th century, but it was abandoned. The holding was resettled in 1757. Running the kestikievari at Kallenautio began in 1778, when it had been decided to improve travel conditions in Ylä-Satakunta. Kallenautio was one of the two oldest kestikievari in present-day Juupajoki; the second kievari, which was located at Juupankulma, was kept at Pärrinautio in addition to Sahrajärvi.

Kallenautio operated as a kestikievari during its first period, 1778-1881. The initiative to place the kestikievari in the remote Kallenautio had come from residents of Ruovesi, who had to make hollikyytejä as far as Orivesi. Two horses had to be kept at Kallenautio, and its auxiliary farms were the uudistalot of Aitua and Hyytiälä. Transport runs were made from Kallenautio to the Tapio kievari in Ruovesi and to the kievari in Orivesi. In 1881 the kievari moved from Kallenautio to the nearby farm of Aitua. Kallenautio was again a kestikievari in 1920-1928. Growing motor traffic from the 1920s and 1930s onwards gradually made the kyytilaitos redundant. In 1955 the owners of Kallenautio handed over the kievari buildings to the Juupajoki society (Juupajoki-seura), which had been founded the previous year. The society began running a kestikievari and local heritage museum at Kallenautio.