Sauna Museum
At the sauna museum in Kukkolaforsen, new knowledge awaits about how sauna culture has developed through the ages. Here you can visit different types of saunas, learn about the positive health effects of sauna bathing and find out everything about how best to take a sauna bath.
Knowledge
It is not about firing the stove glowing hot and competing over who can endure it longest. No, that kind of sauna bathing has nothing to do with wellbeing and can even be downright harmful to your health. The recommended temperature is 65–70 degrees. Then you can bathe for a long time and feel good the whole time.
13 saunas
On the grounds there are 13 saunas, from different eras and different regions. Here you can, for example, try a smoke sauna. It is fired for many hours, without a chimney and with the dampers closed. Before bathing, the smoke is aired out and the large stone reservoir holds the gentle heat for a very long time. After the smoke sauna the skin smells of soot and tar – exactly how a clean body should smell, if you ask a Finn. The sauna museum has also helped develop its own concept for food and drink in connection with sauna bathing. "Light" is the watchword, because you don't want to bathe on a full stomach. Alcohol must also wait until afterwards. Water is best to drink, since the body loses a lot of fluid during a sauna bath.
Development
In the sauna museum's various saunas there are plenty of tips and inspiration for building your own sauna. The most impressive is the large village sauna, where the bathing record is 65 people. And why not – that way the whole extended family can bathe together. The museum's founder, Svante Spolander, now dreams of realising his next project: building the historic sauna based on a drawing from 1799, when a large expedition of scientists, including Celsius and the Italian Giuseppe Acerbi, visited Kukkola. If Svante has his way, it will be the next building here at the sauna museum on the shore overlooking Kukkolaforsen.
The feeling
Throw a small scoop of water on the warm stones, listen to the characteristic hiss and then lean back against the lovely warm wooden wall while you let yourself be enveloped by the hot steam. Feel the tingle in your skin as the pores open, feel how your whole body thanks you for a moment of rest and recovery in total harmony. A sauna bath is a sensual experience, a deep dive into wellbeing and pleasure. In Finland, the home of the sauna, there is even a special word that describes the sauna bath, the steam and the wonderful feeling: löyly.
