Ahvenkoski () is a historical site in the Kymenlaakso region,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, located by the westernmost branch of the river

Kymijoki The Kymi (, ) is a river in Finland. It begins at Lake Päijänne, flows through the provinces of Päijänne Tavastia, Uusimaa and Kymenlaakso, and discharges into the Gulf of Finland. The river passes the towns of Heinola and Kouvola. The to ...

. It consists of the Vähä-Ahvenkoski (Swedish: ''Lillabborfors'') village in

Loviisa Loviisa (; ; formerly Degerby) is a town in Finland, located on the southern coast of the country. Loviisa is situated in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Loviisa is approximately , while the Loviisa sub-region, sub-regi ...

and the Ahvenkoski village in

Pyhtää Pyhtää () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the Kymenlaakso regions of Finland, region, west of the city of Kotka. Overview The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is wa ...

. The site is especially known of its rich military history. Between 1743 and 1809, Ahvenkoski was a border crossing of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Ahvenkoski was originally part of the Pyhtää municipality. As the border divided the village in two, the Swedish side became known as

Ruotsinpyhtää Ruotsinpyhtää (; ) is a List of former municipalities of Finland, former municipality of Finland. Ruotsinpyhtää, Pernå and Liljendal were consolidated to Loviisa on January 1, 2010. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Sou ...

, the ''Swedish Pyhtää'', which was annexed to the town of Loviisa in 2010. Ahvenkoski is listed as a Cultural environment of national significance by the

Finnish National Board of Antiquities The Finnish Heritage Agency (, ), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a cultural and research institutio ...

. The Ahvenkoski rapid was mostly destroyed in the 1930s, as the water level rose several meters due to the construction of a hydroelectric power station.

History

Ahvenkoski was known as a marketplace since the 13th century. In 2010, the archaeologists found a remnants of a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

harbor. The found objects are similar to the ones found at various

Norse activity in the British Isles Viking activity in the British Isles occurred during the Early Middle Ages, the 8th to the 11th centuries, when Scandinavians travelled to the British Isles to raid, conquer, settle and trade. They are generally referred to as Vikings, Richards ...

, and in Norse settlements in different parts of the Northern Europe. The historical ''

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

'' ran by the village, crossing the river through the Kirmusaari Island. The Ahvenkoski Manor was established in 1561. During the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

in the 1570s, the manor and the village were burned down by the Russian troops. The manor was last destroyed in the mid-1800s, the present building was completed 1894. After the 1741–1743 Russo-Swedish War, the border between Sweden and Russia was moved to Ahvenkoski. Both sides established their mail and custom houses to the village and started building various fortifications by the river. The

Finnish War The Finnish War (; ; ) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established a ...

begun in February 1808, as the Russian troops crossed the border in Ahvenkoski. As war ended, Finland became an autonomous part of the Russian Empire. In 1812, the border of

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...

and Russia was moved by Alexander I of Russia as a goodwill gesture 200 kilometres east to the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the we ...

, Ahvenkoski lost its importance and the structures started slowly decaying. The last military conflict in the area was the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

Battle of Ahvenkoski, fought between the German troops and the Finnish

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

in April 1918. It was the final battle of the Civil War.

Transport

The

Finnish national road 7 Finnish national road 7 (; ) is a highway in Finland. It runs from Erottaja in Helsinki to the Russian frontier at the Vaalimaa border crossing point in Virolahti. The road is long. The road is also European route E18 and it is a part of TERN. ...

runs by Ahvenkoski as a part of the

European route E18 European route E18 runs between Craigavon, County Armagh, Craigavon in Northern Ireland and Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is about in length. Although the designation implies the ...

highway. The highway was rerouted in the 1960s, and the modern four-lane motorway was opened in 2013–2014. The 1928 completed Savukoski Bridge, replacing the one destroyed in the 1918 Civil War, is today a tourist attraction, holding a status of a museum bridge.

References

{{coord, 60.493308, N, 26.449998, E, scale:80000_region:FI, display=title Loviisa Pyhtää