Kalevala – European Heritage Label

In spring 2024, the European Commission awarded the Kalevala with the European Heritage Label (EHL). The Label has been awarded since 2013 to sites within the region of the European Union, which are central to European history, culture and integration.

The Kalevala (1849, SKS) is a compilation of epic poetry by Elias Lönnrot based on Karelian and Finnish folk poems. It is one of the few objects of intangible heritage that has been awarded the European Heritage Label. The label was granted to the Kalevala because it is an epic that still has a living role in today’s world

The Kalevala represents an open cultural heritage that changes over time, and which is open to various interpretations. It has been an inspiration to science, art, and culture ever since it was first published, and it has been used as well in disputes as in discussions about Finland and Finnish cultural heritage. The work evokes interest regardless of cultural boundaries. It is a source of inspiration to metal music and fantasy literature as well as to traditional handicraft and even to tattoo art. The epic has been translated to over 60 languages.

“The Kalevala is based on Karelian and Finnish oral traditions and is one of the most influential epics of the 19th century. While the Kalevala is a highly respected part of Karelian and Finnish cultural heritage, it also showcases the interchange and multi-layered nature of European cultures and identities.”

– European Commission

You can learn about different aspects of the epic at four sites

The Cultural Heritage Label awarded to the Kalevala has designated four sites where you can learn about various aspects of the epic.

Main site:
Finnish Literature Society in Helsinki

Other sites:

The label is also associated with an extensive partner network involving actors specialised in the Kalevala as well as Karelian and Finnish cultural heritage. The network is coordinated by the Kalevala Society Foundation.

The broader network includes:

  • The Kalevala Society Foundation (coordinating party)
  • Kalevala Women’s Association
  • Karelia University of Applied Sciences
  • Karjalainen Nuorisoliitto (Karelian Youth Association)
  • Karjalan Liitto (Karelian Association)
  • Karjalan Sivistysseura (Karelian Culture Society)
  • Paikkarin torpan tuki
  • Runosong Academy
  • The Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes
  • Association of Cultural Heritage Education in Finland
  • Department of Folk Music of the University of the Arts Helsinki
  • Degree Programme in Digital Culture, Landscape and Cultural Heritage of the University of Turku
  • Äidinkielen opettajain liitto (Association of Native Language Teachers)

Kalevala and SKS

The Finnish Literature Society is the original publisher of the Kalevala. In 1835 and 1849, the Society published the Kalevala, which was based on the collection trips of Elias Lönnrot, the Society’s first secretary.

Both the Kalevala and the manuscript materials related to folk poems used as its sources are stored in the SKS archive. The Kalevala Collection included in the SKS Library’s collections is one of the largest in the world. It includes various versions and forms of Kalevala as well as translations to over 60 languages.

The SKS Research Department implements research projects related to the Kalevala and folk poems. We also offer various open access online resources related to the Kalevala.

Learn more about our online resources related to Kalevala

Useiden eri Kalevala-painosten kansikuvia.

Avoin Kalevala (Open Kalevala)

Critically commented edition of the Kalevala edition published in 1849.

Matkalla Kalevalaan (Journey to Kalevala)

Background, contents and interpretations on then national epic with the use of the latest research results. It also includes learning exercises.

SKVR – Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot (The Ancient Songs of the Finnish People)

SKVR Database – Online service for Kalevala poems. Almost all of the traditional poetry in Kalevala metre stored in the archives has been published in the Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot series of works and database.

Epic Kaleidoscope project

The European Cultural Heritage Label is associated with the Epic Kaleidoscope pedagogical project, which will be implemented with the help of an extensive partner network. The aim is to achieve the most open and inclusive process possible that draws on contemporary critical research and discussion on the Kalevala, as well as digital methods and open access digital materials.

The project produces digital learning materials available for everyone and implements events and workshops aimed at Finnish people of all ages and young Europeans. The events and workshops will invite young people to ponder and interpret the relationships between European epics, Baltic-Finnic rune song culture as well as the use of the Kalevala across the ages and its significance today. In the project, Finnish and Karelian cultural heritage is explained through contemporary viewpoints. How have people and societies emerging from different backgrounds experienced the Kalevala before and now? How can we interpret the Kalevala and other European epics, for example through art?

Who are the Ainos, Kullervos, Väinämöinens and Louhis of today? What does the Sampo of the 2020s grind and for whom? How does the Kalevala unfold when it is interpreted in relation to contemporary discussions on gender or cultural rights?

The European Heritage Label and its related project improve people’s understanding of the Kalevala and its background and encourage young people to consider cultural heritage as part of their identity. The Label provides an opportunity to highlight and discuss the position of cultural minorities and the Karelian language. The Karelian language spoken in Finland and Russia is endangered and does not have the position of an official language in Finland. The project also aims to raise awareness among Finns about the diversity of Karelian languages and culture.

Interested in the project? Please contact:

Kati Mikkola

Communications Director

Administration and Finance Department

+358 50 598 7501

Niina Hämäläinen

Executive Director of the Kalevala Society

Research Department

+358 40 538 5144

Multilayered and the disputed Kalevala

The Kalevala is not a single version or interpretation nor is it just an epic of the past. In fact, the Kalevala includes more than one form of cultural heritage. The Kalevala means different things to individuals and communities. As a cultural heritage, it is multilayered and also disputed.

The question of which people’s cultural heritage the Kalevala is primarily is a topic of discussion amongst individuals and communities. Conceptions of ownership for the Kalevala are obscured by the multi-faceted nature of the epic: it is a work of literature by a single person, Elias Lönnrot, whose material was formed of notes on folk poetry. Lönnrot created the characters, the plot and edited the language of the poems. His aim was to publish a coherent collection of epic poems that he interpreted to describe Finnish prehistory. For this reason, the Kalevala is in many ways different from the folk poems used as its sources.

The first edition of the Kalevala, called the Old Kalevala (1835), is primarily based on White Karelian material, but the New Kalevala (1849) that achieved the status of a national epic had a much broader source, including Karelian, Finnish and Ingrian poems. A key part of the Kalevala’s material has been collected from the Karelians, but after the Kalevala achieved a significant national status in Finland, the epic has often been presented specifically as Finnish culture. After the Kalevala was published, the epic has been used in various different ways and in different historical situations to depict and reinforce Finnish culture.

The Kalevala is also a part of world literature, and it strongly depicts general European ideas and epic traditions. For example, Elias Lönnrot modelled the Kalevala after the epic poems of antiquity, the Iliad and Odyssey. European Heritage Label was awarded to the Kalevala as part of European epic tradition and its cultural resonance.

“The European Heritage Label puts the spotlight not only on the Kalevala, but also on the Karelian, Ingrian, and Finnish oral poetry tradition behind the Kalevala. Furthermore, the Kalevala was influenced by the literary models from the Greco-Roman Classical Antiquity. The story of Finnishness has been created from different cultural and literary sources. That makes the Kalevala contradictory and controversial. Controversy is what makes the Kalevala renewable and living cultural heritage, and it is what connects the Kalevala to the settings familiar to modern Europeans.”

– Tuomas M. S. Lehtonen, General secretary of SKS

See the video The Kalevala – Living Epic Heritage (production: the European Heritage Label Bureau)