UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old Rauma is the largest coherently preserved wood town area in the Nordic countries. It is still the heart of the city, where people live, work, trade and play in a historic environment all year round. The 29-hectare area of Old Rauma has more than 600 buildings, most of which are owned by private individuals. The population of Old Rauma is around 800.
”Kyl Raum o ain Raum”
The centre of Rauma – Old Rauma – which received its charter of privilege in 1442, has been built up into a compact urban centre since the town burned down in 1682. The built-up urban area of Rauma began to expand beyond Old Rauma only in the early 20th century and Old Rauma is still the beating heart of the city. The narrow streets follow lines dating back to the Middle Ages and are lined with houses built in the 1700s in the oldest parts. The building stock has evolved over the centuries and today forms different historical layers. The building stock is characterised by the great age of the sailing era of the 1890s. Many of the buildings on the main streets were given ornate neo-renaissance facades at that time.
The main functional centre of Rauma is the Market Square and
and the surrounding shopping streets.
Along these streets you will find a couple of hundred shops, charming restaurants, cafés and artists’ studios.
The area is home to three cultural and historical museums and the Rauma Art Museum. In addition to the Wooden Village, Old Rauma is also home to the stone Church of the Holy Cross, built in the late Middle Ages.
It is a former Franciscan monastery church with impressive medieval paintings on its shells.
Old Rauma was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991. Old Rauma
is an architectural-historical complex whose authenticity is based on a well-preserved historic building stock, a street network partly dating back to the Middle Ages and a lively community where housing, business and work intertwine.
The houses of Old Rauma have gradually taken their present form as a result of building additions and alterations. The semi-detached house has been extended with chambers, porches
and rooms have been added to the courtyard. Some of the facades have preserved vertical plasterwork dating from the 1700s and some have retained the wide empire plasterwork of the 1820s and 1830s. Most of the buildings acquired their present neo-renaissance appearance in the 1890s, when Rauma’s sailing boom brought funds to the city.
Old Rauma articles
Old Rauma, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2021. Old Rauma was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991 as a unique example of a living and well-preserved old Nordic tree city.
