Making a children’s book and breathing life into cultural heritage
In Jokiniemi in nowadays city of Vantaa in Finland there is a small rocky hill called the Stenkulla rock. The Stenkulla rock has been there for thousands upon thousands of years, seeing everything that has happened in its surroundings during that time. It has seen the changing climate since the melting of the ice after the last ice age. It has also seen various human populations speaking various languages and inhabiting the area nearby.
There have been people around the Stenkulla rock since the stone age. Every now and then they have abandoned their settlement and nature has taken over for a while, but the humans have always returned. Now there are some apartment buildings and row houses by the Stenkulla rock. There is also a decade old stone bridge depicting the ancient King’s road running through the area. Through the years many archaeological excavations have been conducted in Jokiniemi.
As you see, Jokiniemi has many historical layers. They include different stone age periods and many historical eras. All the layers tell different stories of the past and the story continues all the way to the present. And in the center of it all is the Stenkulla rock, which has seen it all!
Me and artist Tom Björklund are trying to breathe life into the past of the area around the Stenkulla rock and make the cultural heritage of the place fully visible. We are doing it by means of a children’s book. A book where the Stenkulla rock is the story teller. The rock tells its story while Tom’s beautiful pictures make the past of the area more life like than ever!
The story about the Stenkulla rock has in September 2019 been selected as one of the stories to be awarded with a European Heritage Stories grant from the European Commission. With the grant money we can also build a mobile app about the history of the site. The app will be ready in the spring of 2020 and open for anyone to play. We hope to have the book published around the same time. It will be published first hand in Swedish and Finnish.
Andreas Koivisto
There have been people around the Stenkulla rock since the stone age. Every now and then they have abandoned their settlement and nature has taken over for a while, but the humans have always returned. Now there are some apartment buildings and row houses by the Stenkulla rock. There is also a decade old stone bridge depicting the ancient King’s road running through the area. Through the years many archaeological excavations have been conducted in Jokiniemi.
As you see, Jokiniemi has many historical layers. They include different stone age periods and many historical eras. All the layers tell different stories of the past and the story continues all the way to the present. And in the center of it all is the Stenkulla rock, which has seen it all!
Me and artist Tom Björklund are trying to breathe life into the past of the area around the Stenkulla rock and make the cultural heritage of the place fully visible. We are doing it by means of a children’s book. A book where the Stenkulla rock is the story teller. The rock tells its story while Tom’s beautiful pictures make the past of the area more life like than ever!
The story about the Stenkulla rock has in September 2019 been selected as one of the stories to be awarded with a European Heritage Stories grant from the European Commission. With the grant money we can also build a mobile app about the history of the site. The app will be ready in the spring of 2020 and open for anyone to play. We hope to have the book published around the same time. It will be published first hand in Swedish and Finnish.
Andreas Koivisto
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| A little stone age girl by the Stenkulla rock. Picture by Tom Björklund. |
Hei, jotta saisit kirjallesi ja blogillesi enemmän julkisuutta, kannattaisi ehkä laittaa stenkullabergetin vieressä asuvien ihmisten postilaatikkoihin siitä esitteitä.
VastaaPoistaKiitos ehdotuksesta! Meillä oli Jokiniemessä Muinaispuistopäivä syyskuun alussa ja silloin jaoimme esitteitä myös postikuukkuihin. Kirja on näillä näkymin valmistumassa ensi keväänä, silloin pitää miettiä tarkemmin kirjan ja blogin esittelyä vielä. Esitteiden jakaminen on kyllä yksi hyvä keino!
PoistaHey from the USA. Where is this children's book? I was there. On that bridge with a Finland love. We are looking for more information on The Rock.
VastaaPoistaThank you for your comment and excuse me the late answer. This children's book has been dealyed, since both Tom and me have been working with other projects. But now we have started working on it again and it seems like it will be ready this autumn. We will also take up the work with updating this blog (mainly in finnish and swedish though).
Poista