WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

According to many, this is a restaurant straight out of the Finnish films of Aki Kaurismäki. With its first structure laid out in 1895 and its activities beginning in 1934 (including a cinema in 1939), Wanha Jokela is one of the oldest existing hotel-bar-restaurants in Finland. It has been a comfortable window to the past and a common feature for many Finnish citizens and artists to share, but it is now being threatened by a highly controversial housing plan against the will of a massive civil movement. Please join us in our struggle to save Wanha Jokela and the significant social and cultural values it represents!

Situated in the North Karelian city of Joensuu in eastern Finland, the cultural restaurant Wanha Jokela has earned its reputation throughout the country but also across the borders for actively promoting national values of open-mindedness, creativity and tolerance. With its 4,500 Facebook friends, Jokela is indeed very popular, notably so for a majority of notorious Finnish artists and intellectuals. Already in 1965, Omar Sharif enjoyed visiting the place during his free-time while working on Doctor Zhivago. Threatened now with demolition by its new owner (the Foundation for the Promotion of the Karelian Culture or Karjalaisen Kulttuurin Edistämissäätiö in Finnish (KKES)) despite its large and encompassing value in Finnish culture history, the building of Wanha Jokela and its authentic hotel-restaurant milieu has been recently listed as being the most endangered property of cultural importance in Finland. As such, it was nominated for the 7 Most Endangered Programme of Europe’s leading heritage organisation, Europa Nostra. Please sign the petition requesting that KKES protects the building and maintains its traditional activities.