Taikayöntie is full of history!
Taikayöntie is an old road and the history of the region is well known quite far into the past. The best-known Finnish archaeological artefact, the Elk’s Head of Huittinen was found in Palojoki in Huittinen. The original elk’s head sculpture is on display in the Finnish National Museum in Helsinki, but there is a replica on display in the Huittinen Museum. Now, 7,000 years later, the stone-age elk’s head figurine is accompanied by The Second Elk. This light work by the visual artist Kimmo Ojaniemi was unveiled in Huittinen on 1 January 2000. The work is located in the Kiviranta fields in central Huittinen.
The Ripovuori lookout point in Huittinen was once a bronze-age barrows or tumuli. On the other side of the Kokemäenjoki river from Ripovuori there is Karhiniemi, which is considered to be the oldest village in Huittinen.
Urjalankylä village, at the other end of Taikayöntie, is an ancient worship and sacrificial site. Many flat stones with cup-like indentations worked into them have been found in the area, which are believed to have been used in sacrificial rituals. Depending on what was needed, items such as grains, breastmilk of a women who had just given birth or harvested items were placed into these cups.
The arrival of Christianity in Taikayöntie
A dagger with a handle embossed with gold and gems has been found in Välkkilä village, in Urjala. It is similar to ones used by messengers in the late 13th century, when Christianity pushed inland.
The first church in Huittinen was in Karhiniemi in the 13th century. At the nearby Hiidenkallio rocks there is an ancient sacrificial spring where, according to inherited information, the first of the local people were christened.
In the middle ages, the road from the Franciscan monastery in Rauma to the one in Vyborg followed the current route of Taikayöntie. The monks would preach and proselytise the Christian faith on their way to Vyborg.
There are several historical churches along the Taikayöntie route, such as St Catherine’s Church in Huittinen and the stone sacristy of Urjalankylä. The stone sacristy is located at a site where the first church in Urjala may have been built as early as the 13th century.

The oldest parts of St Catherine’s Church in Huittinen are from the late Middle Ages. Photo: Janni Heikkilä.
From a local road to a highway
In the year 1550, people from Ulvila and Rauma made their way along the Taikayöntie route in the heat of June, traveling to build a city called Helsinki on orders from Gustav Vasa. Taikayöntie was a local road as early as the 17th century. It was refurbished into a highway traversed by wagons in the late 1700s.

The Punkalaidun church, seen behind a Tamminen bus in 1968. Photo: Tuomo Lehtiö / Vapriikki Photo Archive
The era of witch hunts
From the 16th century all the way to the early 18th, the Taikayöntie region lived in a period of healers and witch hunts. In the region currently known as Punkalaidun, there were many healers who were considered witches, such as Valpuri Kyni, born in the early 17th century and who is among the most famous Finnish witches.
Glass-blowing, agriculture and great men
The oldest glass village is located along Taikayöntie route. In the year 1793, Major Jacob Wilhelm Depont decided to establish a glass factory in the middle of the forest in Nuutajärvi. In this forested location arose the most significant Finnish centre for glass art, where the tradition of glass-blowing lives on strongly even today. The golden era of the Nuutajärvi Glass Village extended from the 1950s up to the 1970s, with Kaj Franck acting as the long-term artistic director of the factory. He had a significant impact on the development of glass art in Nuutajärvi and in all of Finland.

The Nuutajärvi glass village is an interesting tourist destination filled with history. Photo: Rami Valonen
You can also find several other great Finns along the Taikayöntie route. In Urjala, you can get to know the childhood scenery of the great Finnish author Väinö Linna. There you can find the Väinö Linna route and his old study at the Urjala library. The other end of Taikayöntie was home to another great Finn – namely former president Risto Ryti. His statue is located right next to St Catherine’s Church in Huittinen. In the Huittinen Museum, you can find out more about the life of the president and his roots in Huittinen as well as the extensive life’s work of sculptor and professor Lauri Leppänen, including a collection of over one hundred of his works.
The Taikayöntie region is home to a very long agricultural tradition, which can be seen even today. In addition to the Yli-Kirra Peasant Museum in Punkalaidun, this is evident in the traditional farmhouses and rolling fields flanking the road. The landscapes of the region, filled with nostalgia, look as if they could be straight from old Finnish films.
Taikayöntie received official status as a tourism route in the year 2000. Taikayöntie (Finnish for “the road of the magic night”) is named after a song by Martti Innanen called “Urjalan Taikayö” (the magic night of Urjala), published in 1967. The song describes the romantic agricultural landscape of the region.

The Yli-Kirra Peasant Museum offers an opportunity to experience a traditional Finnish courtyard farm. Photo: Rami Valonen