Valsörarna

Valsörarna (in Swedish) or Valassaaret (in Finnish) is a small archipelago in Korsholm, Finland, located in the Kvarken region of the Gulf of Bothnia.

They are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the High Coast of Sweden and the archipelago of Kvarken, for exhibiting the effects of land rise due to post-glacial rebound.

This fact was used during the Finnish War by Russian general Barclay de Tolly who used this route in November 1809 when marching over to Umeå.

A saying tells the tale that the inhabitants of Valsörarna grew tired upon always finding skeletons everywhere around the islands and collected them all in one place, which today is the mound of stones.

There was a sailmark made out of a tree on the island in the 1850s, but that became inefficient for use in the dangerous waters of Kvarken as traffic increased.

The lighthouse was securely fastened on the mountain on Storskär in 1886, and still stands there today, fire-red, 36 metres (118 feet) high and with 175 steps inside.

It was found that it was impossible to repair or reconstruct the lighthouse to fulfill modern safety and accessibility standards without substantially modifying the architecture.