If you are travelling in the southeast part of Finland I recommend you to stop by at Parikkala Statue/Sculpture Park. This place is fascinating. As soon as I had passed the entrance I said WOW. The main masterpiece of the park is right there: the “yogi yard” that consists of 255 yogis. Veijo Rönkkönen the artist (1944–2010) was a yogi himself and searched for peace and serenity by both doing yoga and making the concrete sculptures. According to his friend Veli Granö Rönkkönen was a reserved lonely person whose art was actually the factor that managed to gather some people around. After Rönkkönen noticed his artworks were an interest for people he got the inspiration to continue on his path. Art gave the zest for life. Many pieces reflect self-portraits. Making the yogis for example helped to overcome the conflicts of mind. Beside the yogis another main theme of the statue park is the child sculptures. Making those helped in cutting loose of the somber childhood memories. The sculptures were his babies anyway. There are also a lot of other nice themes; in total there are over 550 sculptures in the park. The nature of the beautiful setting is amazing too, it’s green, wild and sprawling. There is also a “secret garden”, small pond with natural flowers aside. I won’t tell more, you need to see the place yourself.
(The description of the artist as seen in the park in a memo written by Veli Granö)
