Grand Hotel Cascade

4. Cold War in Grand Hotel Cascade

1960s and 1970s were the hot decades of the Cold War. Finland was said to be the independent and neutral bridge between the East and the West, but on the other hand, Finland was quite tight in the Soviet leash. Valtionhotelli became the base camp for the bilateral clearing trade between Finland and the Soviet Union. Valtionhotelli was also in the forefront dusting off the old strict rules in the restaurant scene, and one of the first discotheques in Finland resided in the cellar of Valtionhotelli.

3. The Castle's New Clothes

The industrialization builds prosperity in the Vuoksi river area, but the happy times are over when Russia attacks in 1939. In WW2 Valtionhotelli served as a headquarters for the Finnish troops in Karelian Isthmus. One of the towers of the castle was remodelled to an observatory platform and machine gun stage. After the Winter Ware, Stalin draws the new state border with wide brush strokes, and later into the war Hitler visits Imatra.

2. The Castle and the Dam

The beautiful Art Nouveau castle of Grand Hotel Cascade was opened in 1903, welcoming the creme de la creme of Russian society. At the same time, the Russification manifesto of the Czar tightened the atmosphere among the locals, and eventually the revolution overthrew the Czar - and put a full stop for tourism in Imatra.  After the WWI, in the Finnish civil war, the front line was close to Imatra, and Grand Hotel Cascade served as a military hospital for the White troops. The theme of the 1920s was industrialisation and harnessing the river into electricity production, which also spiced up the life Valtionhotelli - the aristocrats were out but technocrats were in. The second episode of Grand Hotel Cascade covers a 30-year era of transformation in 1900-1929.

1. Before the Castle

Catherine the Great, the Queen and Empress of Russia was the first real travel influencer of the Northern hemisphere in 1770s. After her visit to Imatra, the Vuoksi river became a real tourist attraction, drawing aristocrats and artists especially from St. Petersburg area, and the bloom continued well until the 20th century. It’s quite impressive how advanced the branding and commercialisation of Imatra rapids were especially in the late 19th century! The first episode of Grand Hotel Cascade covers the time before the current stone castle, from about 5700 years ago to 1901.

0. Intro

Welcome to Grand Hotel Cascade of Imatra! Grand Hotel Cascade will be a podcast about the beautiful hotel, the history of tourism in Imatra, and tales of what it’s like to live next to the unpredictable empire on the other side of the border. Welcome to share the ride!