Tankavaara is a village and a tourist attraction in the municipality of
Sodankylä in
Lapland
Lapland may refer to:
Places
*Lapland or Sápmi, an ethno-cultural region stretching over northern Fennoscandia (parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia)
**Lapland (Finland) (''Lappi''/''Lappland''), a Finnish region
*** Lapland (former pr ...
,
Finland. It is located by the
E75 highway 90 kilometres north of Sodankylä and 30 kilometers south of the
Saariselkä ski resort. Tankavaara is famous of its
gold prospecting that started in the 1930s. Since the 1970s, the village has been a tourist attraction including hotel, restaurant "Old Gold Prospector" and the Gold Prospector Museum.
History
The Tankavaara gold was found in 1934 by the
Sami people
Acronyms
* SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft
* Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company
* South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...
of the nearby Purnumukka village. The discovery attracted several gold prospectors Finland as well as some foreign mining companies. Since 1950 the Tankavaara area was used for research work by the
Geological Survey of Finland and the tourism finally started in 1970.
The
Battle of Tankavaara
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and fo ...
was fought during the
Lapland War in 26–31 October 1944 between the retreating
German troops and the Finnish Army.
Tankavaaran taistelu 26. – 31.10.1944
War Memorials in Finland. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
The Gold Museum
The International Gold Museum presents the history of Finnish gold, as well as the history of the world's major gold rushes. A display called Golden world, tells the story of gold in more than 20 countries. The outdoor museum is housed within several historic buildings and the courtyard is decorated with a large bronze statue of a gold prospector, by the artist professor Ensio Seppänen
Kauko Ensio Seppänen (7 September 1924 in Kemi – 28 June 2008 in Kemi) was a Finnish sculptor, professor (1978) and sculpture pioneer in Lapland. He created a total of 127 public sculptures. On the occasion of his crafting more public sculp ...
. The museum's stone and mineral collection has more than 2500 samples on display from around the world.
See also
*Lapland gold rush
The Lapland gold rush, also known as the Ivalo Gold Rush, was a gold rush that occurred in the 1870s in Lapland, Grand Duchy of Finland, then part of Imperial Russia. The Lapland gold rush started in the valley of the Ivalojoki River in 1870 and ...
References
External links
Tankavaara Gold Village Official Home PageThe Gold Prospector Museum Official Homepage
Sodankylä
Tourist attractions in Lapland (Finland)
{{LaplandFI-geo-stub