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ValsrarnaValsrarna (fin. Valassaareet) is a group of islands located in the Kvarken region of the Gulf of Bothnia. The group of islands are situated in the territorial waters of Finland and is the last island you see when going by boat or ferry from Vaasa, Finland to Ume, Sweden. =History= The Name The name Valsrarna is of Swedish origin roughly meaning "the islands of whales" in English. It is believed that the name was derived from the stone cled shores and the moraine which resembles a whale. The Finnish name Valassaareet is believed to have been derived from the Swedish word. Bridging Finland to Sweden The Valsrarna is the shortest route to the Swedish island Holms with the distance being only 23 km. During winter, the waters of Kvarken are completely iced and it was possible to walk over to the neighbouring country that way. Today, this is not possible thanks to the active ferry traffic and icebreakers that traffic there. This fact was used by Russian general Barclay de Tolly who used this route in November 1809 when marching over to Ume. The march to Sweden with about 3700-count of soldiers was successful but not on the return trip. The strong colds of the spring-fall and lack of food, took its tolls on the men and it is estimated that 400 men died from the cold alone. The remains of these soldiers were still present around Valsrarna in upon the 1900's. In the memory of the fallen men, there is now a man-made memorial mound of stones raised on bbskr. A saying tells the tale that the inhabitants of Valsrarna grew tired upon always finding skeletons everywhere around the islands and collected them all in one place, which today is the mound of stones. The Lighthouse Is Built There was a sailmark made out of tree on the island in the 1850 but that became inefficient for use in the dangerous waters of Kvarken as traffic increased. The long thought of lighthouse became reality when five boats ran aground under the one and same night in 1879. The lighthouse was drawn by Gustave Eiffel and built by the same company in France who manufactured the components for the Eiffel Tower. The lighthouse was initially thought to be placed on bbskr. However, after digging and ground analysis, it was concluded that bbskr had no suitable ground for the lighthouse and it was decided that it should be moved to Storskr. The hole that was dug on bbskr is still there today with a sea guard station as neighbour. For the move over to Storskr, a bridge of stone was built between it and bbskr. The road also built in connection to the bridge got the name Krlekstigen ("Love path"). With the lighthouse securely fastened in the moutain on Storskr in 1886, and still standing there today, the lighthouse now stands fire-red, 36 meters high and with 175 steps inside. The lighthouse amazed and even scared people with the fire-red color enfueling the spreading of rumors. The most known rumor was that if you touched the lighthouse, you got seriously burned from it. This rumor was so widespread that it lived long until the 1950s. In 1963 the lighthouse was first automated and later, in the 1980s, electrified. The lens-system was removed in conjunction with the electification and is now on display in Vaasa Seamuseum.
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