Monninsaari Manor
An important part of Savonranta’s history
Monninsaari Manor has played an important role in the history and development of Savonranta for generations. Its story is closely connected with the people who lived and worked here – from Antti Nyman and the difficult famine years of the 19th century to the Kansanen family, who developed agriculture, industry and tourism in the area.
The history of Monninsaari reaches far beyond the manor itself. It is a story of local people, changing times, sawmills and steamships, farming and entrepreneurship – and of a manor that became closely woven into the history of Savonranta.
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From Antti Nyman to the Kansanen family
In the 19th century, Monninsaari Manor belonged to Antti Nyman. At that time, Savonranta was still a remote community and travelling to the church and cemetery in Kerimäki could be a long and difficult journey. In 1862, Nyman donated land for a local place of worship and a cemetery, making life a little easier for the people of Savonranta.
The famine years of 1867–1868 were particularly hard throughout Finland. According to local history, Antti Nyman helped people in Savonranta during these difficult years by distributing grain from the manor’s own stores.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Monninsaari Manor was sold first to a Russian trading company and later to Pekka Kansanen, a well-known country merchant. His son Juho settled at the manor, beginning a new chapter in Monninsaari’s history. The estate would remain in the Kansanen family until the 1990s.
The money on his back
In 1894, the Russian trading company Tschusoff & Sapetoff went bankrupt and its property was put up for auction. Pekka Kansanen, a country merchant from Leppävirta, travelled to Savonranta hoping to buy some of the company’s assets.
Banking was very different in those days. Kansanen is said to have carried the money for his purchase on his back in a tuohikontti, a traditional Finnish backpack made of birch bark.
His journey proved successful. Kansanen acquired Monninsaari Manor, more than 2,000 hectares of land, the Vuokala sawmill and a mill. His son Juho later settled at the manor. The Kansanen family would go on to play an important role in the economic development of Savonranta.
Vuokala sawmill
The Vuokala sawmill was included in Pekka Kansanen’s purchase in 1894. During the 19th century, Vuokala had grown into the largest village in the parish around the sawmill. The sawmill and its activities became an important part of the Kansanen family business.
At a time when Savonranta had no road connection, the waterways were its link to the outside world. The Kansanen family operated several steamships, including the S/S Savonranta, S/S Monninsaari and S/S Vuokala. They transported timber and other goods from Savonranta through the Saimaa Canal to international markets. Large quantities of firewood were shipped as far as St. Petersburg.
The importance of water transport is also illustrated by an intriguing event from 1898. Old records show that the Salama – today preserved as a museum ship – was carrying 400 sacks of rye flour from Monninsaari Manor when it sank on Lake Saimaa.
The Vuokala mill was another important part of the estate. It could grind as much as 20,000 kilograms of Monninsaari’s own grain per week, in addition to grain brought in from elsewhere in the parish. In 1913, a power station was built beside the mill, supplying electricity to homes in the village centre of Savonranta.
The sawmill provided work and contributed significantly to the local economy for decades. In 1934, however, a devastating fire destroyed it. The sawmill was not rebuilt, bringing an important chapter in Savonranta’s industrial history to an end.
The old mill itself has survived and found a new purpose. Today it houses a handicraft and souvenir shop run by Savonrannan Kädentaitajat ry and also serves as a mill museum. Art exhibitions are held on its various floors in summer.
A pioneer in agriculture and tourism
Monninsaari Manor was also home to a remarkably wide range of agricultural and other business activities. Jaakko Kansanen, one of the owners of the estate, had studied agriculture in Denmark and had a particular interest in farming and horses. He was responsible for developing the system of dams used to drain the fields surrounding the manor.
Monninsaari was also at the forefront of agricultural development in Savonranta. New machinery and equipment were often introduced here first, making the estate something of a pioneer in modern farming in the locality.
The next generation took Monninsaari in yet another direction. Jaakko’s son, Ukko-Pekka Kansanen, was an entrepreneur who played an important role in the development of tourism in Savonranta. In 1967, Ukko-Pekka and Olga Kansanen established Savonranta’s first holiday village, Kääpäsaari. Its beautiful location and success encouraged other local people to establish holiday villages of their own.
The Kansanen family also founded Restaurant Koskikara in the early 1970s. It became particularly popular during that decade, when queues could stretch outside the door. Orchestras from Central and Southern Europe performed live music at the restaurant – a remarkable glimpse of Savonranta’s lively tourism scene at the time.
Tourism was only one of Ukko-Pekka Kansanen’s business interests. His other enterprises included a brick and tile factory in Tiiliniemi, a company specialising in clearing stones from fields and road-building sites, and a factory making special shoes for horses. The latter also produced special “swamp shoes” for horses, designed to prevent them from sinking into soft fields. These unusual shoes were advertised through the newspaper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus and found customers as far north as Rovaniemi.
After Ukko-Pekka, the manor belonged to Pekka-Heikki Kansanen and his wife Airi, who focused on tourism. Keeping livestock close to the village had become increasingly difficult. Former servants’ rooms upstairs were converted for guests; the windows were renewed and the manor repainted in 1984–1985. On dark autumn evenings, garden parties lit by paper lanterns offered visitors a romantic manor atmosphere. The main building and two cottages on the shores of Lake Orivesi provided accommodation for twenty guests.
Today the manor is privately owned. Its current owner, Sirpa Nordqvist, has undertaken a restoration lasting several years, carefully preserving the historic character and original features. This work is an important contribution to Savonranta’s cultural heritage.
Monninsaari today
Today, Monninsaari Manor remains a visible reminder of the many changes Savonranta has experienced over the generations. Agriculture, industry, shipping and tourism have all left their mark on the estate – and through the people who lived and worked here, Monninsaari has left its mark on Savonranta in return.
Surrounded by fields, forests and the waters of the Saimaa region, the historic manor and its preserved buildings continue to tell a remarkable local story – one that reaches from the difficult years of the 19th century to the development of modern Savonranta.
