Kalevala Koru Broaches

The story of Kalevala Koru (Jewelry) began in 1935, when the city of Helsinki celebrated the 100th anniversary of Finnish national epic, Kalevala. A writer Elsa Heporauta was so inspired by the centenary that she started to contemplate a way to recognize the strength of our national heritage captured in the Kalevala, and to bring the ancient culture embodied in it back to life. Elsa Heporauta gathered a group of progressive Finnish women who shared the same desire to create something tangible to express respect to the women of the Kalevala. A committee was founded to raise funds for a monument in honor of the Finnish Woman. The initial attempt to raise money for the monument by public subscription yielded very limited results. In spring 1937, a proposal arose to make replicas of ancient jewelry and the sales of it would be donated to the monument fund.