Ruoveden Runebergin lähde luonnon ja kulttuurin ristivedossa

Kirjallisuusmatkailun ja maisemaekologian näkökulmia 

Abstract

he article examines Runeberg’s Spring, located in Ruovesi, Finland, a site renowned both as a natural landmark and as a destination for literary tourism due to its associations with J. L. Runeberg. The spring began its transformation into a site of literary pilgrimage and cultural significance in the 1870s, around the time of Runeberg’s death. Since then, it has been imbued with meaning as a possible inspiration for Runeberg’s poem “Vid en källa” (“At a Spring”). Over the past 150 years, however, the cultural, ecological, and social interpretations of the site have shifted considerably, with the most notable change being a growing ecological awareness and understanding of spring ecosystems, which only began to emerge in earnest from the 1970s onward. Analyzing the discourse surrounding the spring provides insights into cultural history and evolving attitudes toward nature.

The article’s central argument concerns the tension between nature and culture, which was particularly pronounced during the height of the Runeberg cult in the early 20th century. Dissatisfaction with the spring’s appearance, which did not meet expectations for a memorial and pilgrimage site, led to repeated calls for its cleaning. In 1927, forestry students undertook a restoration project that nearly destroyed the spring. Despite this, the site retained its significance as a tourist attraction. By the 1980s, themes of environmental conservation began to emerge in the spring’s cultural history, with the site serving as a platform for eco-critical art performances. In the 1990s, debates intensified between advocates for preserving the spring’s natural state and those supporting interventionist maintenance, with the ELY Centre siding with conservation efforts.

In the 2020s, a restoration project sought to return the spring to as natural a state as possible. This project drew inspiration from Runeberg’s spring-related poetry, merging cultural and natural interpretations by treating the imagery in his works as descriptions of an untouched environment. The article integrates literary studies, tourism research, and landscape ecology to illuminate Runeberg’s Spring as a site where environmental and cultural histories converge.