Institute of Geology of Karelian Research Centre of RAS (Petrozavodsk, Russia):

Gribushin А. I., Leading Expert of the “Mining Road” Project, e-mail: apis51@yandex.ru

The geological and mining sites of Karelia are now being used as a tourist attraction on a small scale. The first and most important project in this field is Ruskeala Mining Park (RMP). The main goal is to establish a new tourist itinerary – the “Mining Road” – to encourage travelers for visiting mining areas of the past, such as abandoned workings, museums, geological sites, unique wildlife areas, etc.

Ruskeala Mining Park is a pilot project, which is expected to encourage proprietors to invest in such projects, thereby to contribute the development of mining tourism in Karelia. The main part of the RMP is Ruskeala Marble Quarry. The most remarkable site is a so-called “Finnish deposit”, where marble was quarried in 18^th-20^th centuries. The quarry and faces are now partly filled with ground and runoff water up to the level of the River Tohma which flows nearby.

RMP is now a third most often visited and popular tourist locality of Karelia surpassed only by Kizhi Open-Air Museum and Valaam Archipelago. RMP is opened all year round. The types of offered services are depend on the season.

Experience in maintaining tourist sites has been accumulated in Russian Karelia and Finland. Existence of a high-quality highway extends across South Karelia and Eastern Finland. On the basis of this, Karelian and Finnish experts have proposed to establish a common specialized international tourist route, entitled The Mining Road, from Petrozavodsk (Russia) to Outokumpu (Finland). The route is likely to be extended later. This idea is supported by the EU Program and Karelian European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument Cross Border Cooperation (ENPI CBC). The funds are allocated for the accomplishment of Mining Road Project. Several tourist attractions will be created along the Mining Road.

Driving along the Mining Road will open earlier unknown pages in the evolution of the Earth and the human society of North Europe. Tourists will know more about the national characteristics of Finnish and Russian population. Such a travel will bring people of these two countries closer to each other and will contribute to the strengthening of emotional and personal contacts.