Sorvarinkatu Street

The side of Sorvarinkatu Street is an ideal environment to feel the atmosphere of the wooden house town and alleyways. Kuopio’s alleyways network and the old buildings that belong to it are a unique entity in Finland. There is no similar, equally well-preserved network formed by two streets of different widths anywhere else. Along Sorvarinkatu Street are e.g. Kuopio Old Museum. The whole includes eleven buildings representing the wooden Kuopio. In addition to the Old Museum, there are several wooden houses of different ages in the surrounding area, which delight passers-by with their architecture.

Alleyways as part of Kuopio’s pedestrian center

Alleyways were built in stages together with the surrounding blocks in the 18th and 19th centuries based on the plans of land surveyor Pehr Kjellman. The city’s main streets were designed to be 14.5 meters wide and the side streets 7.2 meters wide. The probable purpose of these alleyways has been to act as a fire escape to prevent possible fires from spreading in the wooden city. The streets were reduced, sand-covered thoroughfares, which were bordered by workers’ buildings and wooden fences, which mainly contained living and working spaces. There was little vegetation on the streets, as trees and plantings were located mainly in the courtyards of the plots.

As the city grows and develops, alleyways have retained their unique character. They have been renovated in stages since the 1990s, with the aim of creating a comfortable environment for walking, cycling, and lounging.