Imatra
Imatran Valtionhotelli
Sent by Marju from Imatra, Finland.
Imatra is a town and municipality in eastern Finland, founded in 1948 around three industrial settlements near the Finnish–Russian border. In the course of the last 50 years, this amorphous group of settlements has grown into a modern industrial town dominated by Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River and the border. It gained its municipal charter in 1971.
On the other side of the border, 7 kilometres (4 mi) away from the centre of Imatra, lies the Russian town of Svetogorsk. St Petersburg is situated 210 km (130 mi) to the southeast, Finland's capital Helsinki is 230 km (140 mi) away and Lappeenranta, the nearest Finnish town, is 37 km (23 mi) away. Imatra belongs to the administrative province of Southern Finland and the region of South Karelia.
An Art Nouveau or Jugend style castle, currently known as Imatran Valtionhotelli, was built near the rapids in 1903 as a hotel for tourists from the Russian Imperial capital Saint Petersburg. (read further)
