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I should not be surprised if an older sauna-goer asks me to scrub their back, says Alexander Lembke, as he talks me through the workings of Finland’s oldest working public sauna. “You just do it, help them. There you can see how deeply rooted the sauna is here in the community.” Usually, Lembke, who describes himself as a “sauna classicist”, undertakes heating responsibilities (a seven-hour process that begins at 7am) at Rajaportti sauna in Tampere naked. But seeing as he has visitors, today he is dressed in swimming trunks and sliders, accessorized with a multitude of maritime-themed tattoos.
I have come to Finland to learn about its sauna culture, a tradition so valued that in 2020 it was inscribed on the Unesco list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. My starting place, Tampere, one-and-a-half hours by train north of Helsinki, has about 60 public saunas in a city of around 250,000 inhabitants, earning it the title of “sauna capital of the world”.
Unlike in other countries, where saunas are usually marketed as an expensive activity for the few, in Finland they have a far more everyday role. Many people have saunas in their homes; lots of older Finnish people were even born in saunas. But they are also considered a sacred space and a place to find community as well as peace. Finland has topped the world happiness report rankings for the past six years – could its sauna culture have anything to do with it?
Built in 1906, Rajaportti is one of a kind but not flashy. About 15 minutes before opening time a queue forms outside the door, and at 2pm people stream in through the ticket booth, then head to the male or female changing rooms. Soon the sauna – one room divided by a wall with separate sections for men and women (young children can crawl between parents under the gap) – is echoing with voices and the sound of steam from the sauna rocks.
But its function as a sauna is just one aspect of the role it plays in daily life. From therapy room to pub, refuge, debating society, and creche, it’s a place where people of all ages connect. Elderly regulars check up on each other if they don’t turn up at their usual sauna time, and young children play in bathtubs on the floor.
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‘They are a place where everyone is equal and stripped of status’… Rauhaniemi, a sauna in Tampere, Finland. Photograph: Heidi Holma
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