When driving along the Highway 8 on Finland's west coast, Oravais is an excellent place to have a break.

The municipality's international atmosphere is clearly manifested; the more than one hundred refugees from different countries enliven the local community and its cultural life. The view from the village's high cliffs over the open sea and the archipelago is breathtakingly beautiful. A journey of exploration in Oravais broadens your knowledge of the common history of Finland and Sweden and the early industrialisation of Ostrobothnia. In Oravais, the different eras of industrialisation have followed one another ever since. The majority of the municipality's 2.400 residents speak Swedish as their mother tongue, only every eighth inhabitant speaks Finnish.

On the 14th of September 1808, Russian troops and the Swedish army met in the battlefield of Oravais. The attackers won and forced the Swedish-Finnish troops to retreat. As a result of this decisive battle, Finland became a grand duschy of Russia. Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finland's national poet, has written in verse about the Battle of Oravais and the War of Finland in a book called "Fänrik Ståhls Sägner". In summer, the regiment of Ostrobothnia drills in the battlefield of Oravais. The Historical Society of Oravais presents the progress of the battle and the soldiers' living conditions by means of tours, short films, as well as an exhibition, erected in the Sergeant´s Recidence (Furirbostället) at the Fänrik Ståhl Centre, displaying clothing and imitations of old weapons. In the unique restaurant of the Sergeant´s Recidence (Furirbostället), Lotta Svärd, a member of the women's voluntary defence service, serves traditional foods and drinks.

By the River Kimo, surrounded by lush greenery, you will find the Museum and Gallery of the Kimo Iron Works. In this unique milieu are the remains of the Kimo Iron Works, founded in 1703, and the Blast Furnace of Oravais, erected in 1740. The Kimo Iron Works was one of the first iron works in Finland. For about two hundred years, the works produced bar iron, anchors, pots, tools, etc. In the early 17th century, blacksmiths from Liége, Belgium, moved to Sweden. The descendants of these Walloon smiths, whose expert skills were highly appreciated throughout the world, found their way to the Kimo Iron Works. The handicraft traditions of the Kimo Iron Works have been revived thanks to popular blacksmith courses and the International Forging Festival. The iron works area has a cafeteria, a summer theatre with a revolving auditorium, as well as a shop selling handicrafts. It is also the venue for arts, pottery, textile and forging exhibitions.

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