Tammela renovation centre gets its own gate in the centenary year of Old Rauma

This year marks 30 years since Old Rauma was accepted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To mark the anniversary, the renovation centre of Old Rauma, Tammela, will be equipped with a wooden gateway, which has been long-awaited for decades.

The gates, which complement the block facades and delimit the courtyards, play an important role in the urban landscape of Old Rauma. Since the 1970s, systematic efforts have been made to repair the wooden gates of Old Rauma and to add new gates to the streetscape. The gates are an integral part of Old Rauma, welcoming you into the courtyards of the houses.

• It is great that the renovation centre Tammela will finally have its own gate, which will serve as a good example for the area. Until now, the gateway has been an unfinished opening,” says Henri Raitio, Planning Architect and Deputy World Heritage Coordinator in charge of guiding the planning of Old Rauma.

Tammela House has been used as a renovation centre since 1998, and before that as a music academy and for residential use. There is no exact information on when Tammela last had a gate. No photographs of the Tammela Gate have survived. A 1903 drawing by Arvi Forsman, who designed much of the Old Rauma area, shows a gate to Tammela.

The gate design takes into account modern dimensions, but the proportions and composition are balanced. The gate plan contains numerous details for the implementation.

The City of Rauma has chosen carpenter Heikki Turunen from Kauttua to carry out the wooden parts of the gate and blacksmith Kristian von Pfaler from Ylänee to carry out the metal parts.

• The gate is one of the most challenging parts of a wooden city to design and build. Gates are delicate structures, but if well designed, implemented and maintained they should last for decades at least, says Mervi Tammi, Planning Architect and Deputy World Heritage Coordinator.

For the building permit for the Tammela Gate, an opinion has exceptionally been sought directly from the National Board of Antiquities, and not from the Special Body for Old Rauma, because the project is being handled by the Special Body’s rapporteur, Henri Raitio, and expert member Mervi Tammi. The National Board of Antiquities was in favour of the project.

The construction of the Tammela Gate has often been discussed and questioned. It is great that there is a broad consensus on the project. The gate is a significant addition to the urban landscape of Eteläpitkäkatu and will welcome all visitors to the renovation centre,” Raitio and Tammi say.