History of Vuorenmaja
Vuorenmaja is a former ski cottage, which was built for the 60th anniversary of the G.A. Serlachius Ltd in 1928. On the same place the old wooden viewing tower that was built in 1895 was located. But it was already demolished in 1916 because of its bad condition. Vuorenmaja was built on the old plinth stones of the tower. The "Riding Trail" that leads to Vuorenmaja from the sports field of Mäntänvuori was opened in 1932. The Finnish Miss Europe 1934, Esteri Toivonen, was often visiting the family Serlachius during summer and she used to practise riding on the trail.
Vuorenmaja was designed by the Finnish architect Wäinö Gustaf Palmqvist, who has also designed the church of Mänttä. Palmqvist has also designed the furnitures of Vuorenmaja that were then made in Kolho. These furnitures are still in customer use in Vuorenmaja.
Mäntänvuori´s hill area has always been a significant place for the people of Mänttä and especially for the G.A. Serlachius Ltd. The Serlachius Group celebrated its 20th anniversary in Mäntänvuori. For this party a big punch bowl made of stone was placed on the yard of Vuorenmaja. Nowadays this punch bowl can be found in the park behind the Serlachius museum Gustaf.
In 1945 Mäntänvuori area was declared as a nature conservation area. The CEO of Serlachius Ltd. Ralph Erik Serlachius wanted to focus the area only for the use of tourism, sports and community gardening. Many of the guests of the Serlachius Group have visited the Mäntänvuori. The most famous of these guests is probably the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who visited Mänttä in 1957.
During its history, Vuorenmaja has been the venue for many parties and events. Both the former and the current inhabitants of Mänttä have warm memories of the summer and winter trips made to Vuorenmaja.
For almost 30 years Vuorenmaja was empty and not in use before a couple from Mänttä bought the building in 2013 and renovated it into a summer café, where also small events took place. As an European wine tavern Vuorenmaja was opened in the spring 2015 by the current entrepreneurs and owners with a Swiss background.
