Matkalla! En Route! offers a unique and comprehensive outlook to the study trips that Finnish architects have made abroad over the last 200 years. It discusses the impressions gained on their travels and the relevance of travel in adopting new ideas and making international professional contacts.
The book consists of scholarly essays from various writers who approach the historical role of travel in architectural education from various disciplinary viewpoints. The themes range from the societal impetus to travel from the 16th to the 20th century to the late 20th-century architects’ journeys. Authors included esteemed scholars in histories of art and architecture such as Marjaana Niemi, Jouni Kuurne, Irma Lounatvuori, Jarkko Sinisalo, Timo Tuomi, Teppo Korhonen, Renja Suominen-Kokkonen, Elina Standertskjöld, Sirkkaliisa Jetsonen, and Marja-Riitta Norri. Matkalla! En Route! was published in conjunction with an exhibition which was on display in the Museum of Finnish Architecture between 21 May and 1 August 1999.
The beautiful, cloth-bound layout, rich illustration and the well-researched contents make this title a wonderful addition to the existing literature of the European history of architectural education.
Architects who live in Finland, on the northern edge of Europe, have for centuries been forced to travel to see the new architecture of the cities of their continent or the classical monuments of the Mediterranean. Today, architects from elsewhere in the world also travel to Finland to experience a modernistic legacy that retains its creative power. Common to all travel associated with architecture is the desire to experience more than photographs, drawings or even the most evocative literary interpretations can convey.
— Timo Tuomi, Foreword, p. 9.
