Savonlinna

Founded in 1639 around a castle raised in 1475, in the heart of the Saimaa lakeland, which is why it is called the capital of Saimaa. The castle was built to hold an unstable border, and the border duly moved: Field-Marshal Peter Lacy took it during the Russo-Swedish war of 1741–43, Russia held it from 1743 until 1812, and it came back to Finland as part of Old Finland. The town is known internationally for the castle and for the opera festival staged inside it every summer.