Parikkala Sculpture Park

The Parikkala Sculpture Park is located in Koitsanlahti, along Highway 6, about eight kilometers from downtown Parikkala. It is the life’s work of self-taught artist Veijo Rönkkönen and one of Finland’s best-known environments dedicated to self-taught art.

Rönkkönen worked on the park for over 50 years. The complex includes approximately 560 concrete statues and a lush garden where sculptures, plants, and walking paths come together to form a world of their own. One of the park’s most famous features is a group of sculptures depicting figures practicing yoga, but the themes of the works range from human figures to animals, self-portraits, and unusual group scenes.

The sculpture park is also fascinating from the perspective of design and environmental art. Rönkkönen did not create a single monument, but rather a complex that has evolved over decades, in which the materials, scale, garden, and placement of the works are just as important as the individual sculptures. The site is at once a combination of a backyard, a garden, a sculpture park, and a personal visual world.

The Statue Park is currently open 24 hours a day. The park’s maintenance is funded by admission fees, and the Cultural Association Maailmanpylväs ry is responsible for its day-to-day operations.