The monument of Miihkali Perttunen

The monument of Miihkali Perttunen

The rune singer Miihkali Perttunen (Arhippainen) lived in the East Karelian Ladvozero Village and he was blind for the last 34 years of his life. He sang about three and a half thousand verses for the collectors of the oral folk tradition.

The monument to the rune singer was created by sculptor Alpo Sailo in 1947. It was based on the photograph taken by photographer Into Konrad Inha in 1894. The monument of Miihkali Arhippainen was opened in Joensuu on the Ilosaari Island on June 8, 1973.

The appearance of the monument in Voknavolok Village became possible during the implementation of the project for the revival of the rune singer’s villages in the East Karelia. Nina Sailo, widow of the sculptor Alpo Sailo, donated the original plaster model of the sculpture. According to this model were made the molds for casting from bronze.

The monument of Miihkali Perttunen, also called the Northern Homer, was erected in Voknavolok Village by the Arhippa Perttunen Foundation on September 1, 1991.