The wooden Old Town of Pikisaari

Walk from the seaside Oulu Market to the bridge near the theatre and library and discover the wooden Old Town of idyllic Pikisaari! Oulu's history of shipbuilding and tar culture is rooted in an old industrial milieu where ships were built as early as the 17th century. Later, the island was used to manufacture the tar products of the tar-head city.

Surrounded by a beautiful estuary, the island is home to original wooden houses, a unique community of artists, the Seamen's Home Museum, an art trail around the island, the revitalised Old Woolen Factory, and restaurants. The historic setting of the picnic island has developed into a wooden town community with a respect for authentic craftsmanship and is an interesting destination for the cultural tourist.

Oulu was a major maritime and port city in the 19th century and the world's most important tar port, and a significant number of the city's inhabitants were seamen by profession. Seamen's families lived on the outskirts of the city in small wooden houses, such as the Matila House, now the Seamen's House Museum. The building is the oldest surviving wooden house, dating back to 1739, having survived the great fires in Oulu in the 19th century.

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