Verla Groundwood and Board Mill

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Verla Groundwood and Board Mill: A Testimony to 19th Century Lumber Industry and Worker Life

The Verla Groundwood and Board Mill, located in Jaala, Kouvola, Finland, stands as a remarkable testament to the lumber industry of the 19th century and the lives of the industrial workers during this period. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996, this mill village offers a unique insight into the rural industrial settlements associated with pulp, paper, and board production that thrived in Northern Europe and North America during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

The Verla groundwood and board mill and its associated residential area is an outstanding, remarkably well-preserved example of the small-scale rural industrial settlements associated with pulp, paper and board production that flourished in northern Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Only a handful of such settlements survive to the present day.

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

The Committee decided to inscribe the nominated property on the basis of cultural criterion (iv) considering that the Groundwood and Board Mill and its associated habitation is an outstanding and remarkably well preserved example of the small-scale rural industrial settlement associated with pulp, paper, and board production that flourished in northern Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries, of which only a handful survives to the present day.

Encyclopedia Record: Verla

Verla at Jaala, Kouvola, Finland, is a well-preserved 19th-century mill village. Situated along the northern Kymi River, the mill, nearby power plants, and residential houses were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996 due to its testimony to the lumber industry in the 19th century and the lives of the industrial workers of that time.

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