Kotiharjun Sauna

The Kotiharjun Sauna features a heavy, smoke-stained brick chimney that towers above the wooden apartment blocks of the Harju district. Built in nineteen twenty-eight, it remains the last public wood-heated sauna in Helsinki that still operates in its original building. Regulars still climb the stairs to stoke the massive stone stove by hand, just as they did a century ago. On cold evenings, the steam billowing from the roof creates a thick white cloud that drifts over the quiet neighborhood streets.