Runeberg’s Cottage

This cottage in Östanpå is open only during summer. Tuesdays-Sundays, 12-4 pm. (Mondays closed).
If you like to visit the cottage please contact us, 06-7863371
This was a fishing and hunting cabin owned by Johan Ludvig Runeberg’s father and uncle. As a young boy, as well as as an adult, Johan Ludvig enjoyed fishing and hunting.
Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the national poet of Finland, was born on February 5th 1804 in Jakobstad, by then a mediumsized and fairly prosperous town. Johan Ludvig Runeberg’s father, Lorentz Ulric Runeberg, was a sea captain, who had moved to Jakobstad in 1799. Here he met his future wife, Anna Maria Malm, daughter of merchant Johan Malm and his wife Anna Maria Steen. Lorentz Ulric and Anna Maria were married in 1803. Johan Ludvig was born the following year and was named Johan after his maternal grandfather and Ludvig after his father’s father. At home and among his friends, he simply went by the name “Janne”. Johan Ludvig later had two brothers and three sisters. The brothers, Nestor and Viktor, both became sea captains, while the sisters Ulrika and Mathilda moved to Helsinki to be private teachers. The third sister, Emelie, married the dean Jacob Wegelius in Malax. When Emelie became a widow, she moved back to Jakobstad. She lived here until her death in 1899 and was the last member of the Runeberg family in Jakobstad.