Kuhmo Library - L'Atalante

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The public libraries in Finland are just magnificent. Hello us all out there: why can't we follow the 

Finnish example! During our stay in Kuhmo, for the Kuhmo International Chamber Music festival 

(see my posts here), we obviously had to keep up with our e-mails etc., so every few days we 

took advantage of free services at Kuhmo Library; and what a place it was! The building for a 

population of about 10,000 was just so impressive, not just for the architecture but for the 

contents of tens of thousands of books, numerable computers with internet access, cds, dvds, 

magazines, etc. All this in the building inspired by the Jean Vigo movie L'Atalante:

Kuhmo Library was designed by architect Jyrki Tasa from the firm Arkkitehdit NRT Oy. His 

inspiration was the film L'Atalante. I could see some references to boat structures, but not to the 

film as such, really. The building is a totally cool upmarket haven of calm and design, and indeed 

civility of sorts, but the film's origins were somewhat more down to earth and depressive. 

However, the whole idea for a public library, I would think, is to indeed spread all these ideas the 

humanity comes up with to everybody, regardless of their situation, and so I guess the design of 

this place wakens up an inspiration within us, as all the books etc. within it do. And I must say the 

building did inspire me to do some book surfing while I was waiting for A to finish his e-mailing 

(naturally we didn't have much time to spend there due to the hectic schedule of the festival)!

Jyrki Tasa, Architect.

Jean VIgo (1905-1934)

Jean Vigo died in Paris from septicaemia shortly after L’Atalante was released.  He was just 29 

years old.  He is now acknowledged as one of the great heroes of French cinema and a 

standard-bearer for independent film makers. 

Jean (Jean Dasté), Kuhmo Library.

Jean (Jean Dasté), Kuhmo Library

Jean (Jean Dasté), Kuhmo Library.

Juliette (Dita Parlo), Kuhmo Library.

Juliette (Dita Parlo), Jean (Jean Dasté), Kuhmo Library.

Jean Vigo with his wife, Elisabeth ‘Lydou’ Lozinska