Vanhatulli, Oulu — Area Guide & Where to Stay

Vanhatulli is dense with sights. The Oulun tuomiokirkko crowns the district, and close by stand the Pohjois-Pohjanmaan museo, the Oulun taidemuseo and the Tiedekeskus Tietomaa, three of the city's main halls. Old wooden houses survive among them.

The Franzénin talo, the Liljeblomin talo, the Jurveliuksen talo and the Höckertin talo recall the timber Oulu that once filled this quarter, while the Merimiehenkotimuseo keeps a sea captain's home and the Ainola garden holds the Pohjois-Pohjanmaan museo. Sport gathers at the river's edge, where the Oulun jäähalli, the Raatin urheilukeskus and the Heinäpään jalkapallohalli draw crowds across the channel from the centre.

Vanhatulli carries the customs trade in its name. This was the old toll quarter of Oulu, where goods crossing into the town were counted at the water's edge below the Oulun tuomiokirkko. Timber built the place.

Wooden merchants' houses such as the Franzénin talo and the Höckertin talo lined the streets, and the Pyhän Kolminaisuuden katedraali rose for the town's Orthodox congregation, while later monuments gathered through the district. The Jääkärimuistomerkki, the Oulun radan rakentajien muistomerkki and the Noitavainojen uhrien muistomerkki mark soldiers, railway builders and the victims of the witch trials, each set into the streets that grew from this riverside core of Oulu.

Vanhatulli lies in south-western Oulu in northern Finland, a riverside quarter of the centre below the Oulun tuomiokirkko, with the Oulun jäähalli and the Raatin urheilukeskus across the channel by the water.