Karelianism was a late 19th-century cultural

phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfrie ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

and involved writers, painters, poets and sculptors. Since the publishing of the Finnish national epic

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and ...

in 1835, compiled from

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance fo ...

n folk lore, culture spheres in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

became increasingly curious about Karelian heritage and landscape. By the end of the 19th century Karelianism had become a major trend for many works of art and literature in Finland. In the movement Karelia was seen as a sort of refuge for the essence of "Finnishness" that had maintained its authenticity across centuries. The phenomenon can be interpreted as a Finnish version of European

national romanticism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

. The painters

Akseli Gallen-Kallela Akseli Gallen-Kallela (26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic. His work is considered a very important aspect of the Finnish national ident ...

and

Louis Sparre Pehr Louis Sparre af Söfdeborg (3 August 1863 – 26 October 1964) was a Sweden, Swedish painter, designer and draughtsman, most noted for his early work in the Finland, Finnish national romanticism and Jugendstil, jugend styles. He also co ...

are usually mentioned as the founders of the movement. They were soon joined by the sculptor

Emil Wikström Emil Wikström (13 April 1864 in Turku – 26 September 1942 Helsinki) was a Finnish sculptor. Among his best known works are the '' Lyhdynkantajat'' ("Lantern Carriers") sculptures on the front of the Helsinki Central railway station and the mo ...

, the writers

Juhani Aho Juhani Aho, originally Johannes Brofeldt (11 September 1861 – 8 August 1921), was a Finnish author and journalist. He was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature twelve times. Early life Juhani Aho was born at Lapinlahti in 1861. His p ...

Eino Leino Eino Leino (born Armas Einar Leopold Lönnbohm; 6 July 1878 – 10 January 1926) was a Finnish poet and journalist who is considered one of the pioneers of Finnish poetry and a national poet of Finland. His poems combine modern and Finnish fo ...

and Ilmari Kianto, the composers

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

and P.J. Hannikainen, the architects

Yrjö Blomstedt Yrjö Reinhold Emanuel Blomstedt, (25 March 1926 in Helsinki – 13 April 1994 in Helsinki) was a Finnish historian. He was the son of architects Pauli E. Blomstedt and Märta Blomstedt (née von Willebrand). He studied history at the Univer ...

and Victor Sucksdorff, and many others. Karelianism
/ref> Later, towards the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, some of the ideas of Karelianism were taken over by an irredentist movement aspiring to create a larger Finland. Thus some of the ideas put forward by Karelianism were used as a motivation to the proposal of a

Greater Finland Greater Finland ( fi, Suur-Suomi; et, Suur-Soome; sv, Storfinland), an irredentist and nationalist idea, emphasized territorial expansion of Finland. The most common concept of Greater Finland saw the country as defined by natural borders enc ...

, a single state encompassing many

Baltic Finns The Baltic Finnic or Balto-Finnic peoples, also referred to as the Baltic Sea Finns, Baltic Finns, sometimes Western Finnic and often simply as the Finnic peoples, are the peoples inhabiting the Baltic Sea region in Northern and Eastern Europe ...

See also

References

Further reading