President, first lady to arrive at summer house in Naantali on Friday

President Sauli Niinistö and first lady Jenni Haukio along with their family will arrive at Kultaranta summer residence of the President in Naantali on Friday, said the Office of the President in a press release on Wednesday.

During the summer, the President works mainly at Kultaranta. The biggest event of the early summer is the Kultaranta Talks, hosted by the President on 12–13 June.

The City of Naantali will host a welcoming reception for the presidential couple at the marina (Kilta jetty) on Sunday evening. At the same time, President and the first lady will also meet the people.

This year, a sculpture exhibition Shapes of nature, organised in cooperation with the Alfred Kordelin Foundation, will be on display in the Kultaranta park.

The exhibition opens on 8 June and features works inspired by the shapes of plants and fruit and the use of natural materials.

The theme of last year’s sculpture exhibition Encounters was animal figures from the beginning of the last century to the present day.

A park concert of the Naantali Music Festival will be held at Kultaranta on 17 June. The outdoor concert will feature music on the themes of nature and animals performed by Club For Five and the Saint-Saëns suite The Carnival of the Animals, narrated by Seela Sella.

During the summer, the public can visit the Kultaranta park and the sculpture exhibition on Fridays from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Kultaranta, located on Naantali’s Luonnonmaa Island, has been the summer residence of the President since 1922.

Construction of the main building, a granite castle-like structure completed in 1916, was commissioned by industrialist Alfred Kordelin and designed by architect Lars Sonck.

The Kultaranta residence lies in extensive parkland and has a garden devoted to the growing of flowers and vegetables. Kultaranta’s main building and park will be refurbished by 2025 and will accordingly be out of service in 2023–24.