British newspaper focuses raise of Rovaniemi from dark

British newspaper the Guardian on Wednesday published a news focusing how Rovaniemi was razed to the ground by the German army in the second world war. It also pointed out the role of noted architect Alvar Aalto to rebuild it to a reindeer-shaped street grid.

“As soon as you land at Rovaniemi airport in Lapland you see a reindeer. Not a real one, admittedly, but somebody in a Rudolf suit cheerily greeting passengers who have just arrived. A couple of miles from “Santa’s official airport” lies Santa Claus Village, an amusement park complete with elves, real reindeers, huskies, shops and restaurants that draws more than 600,000 visitors a year to this isolated spot at the edge of the Arctic Circle,” said the Guardian report.

The report said that there are reindeer everywhere in Rovaniemi: humans dressed as them at the airport, real ones pulling sleighs at Santa Claus Village and statues of them throughout the city centre.

“But the biggest is one few tourists notice: the reindeer head embedded in the Finnish city’s street plan. This was the work of Finland’s greatest architect, Alvar Aalto, when he rebuilt the Lapland’s capital after it was burned to the ground by the retreating German army during the second world war,” said the report.

Click Guardian to read the detail original report.