Artist Harri Ahonen’s work called Lavalla was unveiled on Thursday at Rantapuisto in Lappeenranta.
In Lappeenranta harbour, the slanting autumn wind blows through the tops of the linden trees. More than a hundred people have gathered along the paths leading to the harbour to watch the historic moment when Lappeenranta-born musician Pave Maijanen receives his memorial work in Rantapuist.
Resting on a granite bench on the shores of Lake Saimaa, the guitar case pays tribute to the memory of the late artist.
Ahonen feels empty when the work is published. He says that there is always excitement in the pit of his stomach when a work is unveiled, and this is no different.
– It’s exciting if there are a lot of people there and if they’re already leaving in the middle.
The excitement was pointless. There are people there, and the majority of people still want to photograph the work after the announcement event.
The guitar case always went with Pave Maijase
– In my opinion, the guitar case is well suited for a gigging musician. It also came up in conversations with Liisa – the guitar case is a good image of Pave, because it always went with him. Liisa thought it was a very good object to describe Pave’s personality.
The work did not fit on the same platform as the Beautiful Veera
Harri Ahonen’s work won the art competition organized by the city of Lappeenranta, where the goal was to find a memorial work for Pave Maijane, who is from Lappeenranta.
At first, the work had to be placed on the same granite base as the stairs, at the end of which the Kaunis Veera statue stands. Ahonen says that the city of Lappeenranta liked the place. With Pave Maijanen’s guitar case, we even went to paint the place of the work on the stairs.
Harri Ahonen didn’t start arguing about it, but started looking for a new place for the memorial.
Now the work is in front of the Kaunis Veera statue on its own granite platform, which you can sit next to.
In this way, the central bench idea, which the city of Lappeenranta hoped for from the beginning, will also be realized. The middle bench refers to the text of Pave Maijanen’s song *Lähtisitkik*.
– After all, the place is quite good. And now Pave’s fans got that bench too. We used to wonder where the bench was. But now you can sit next to the guitar case and iron and polish the head of the guitar case, says Ahonen.
*You can discuss the topic until Friday, October 13 at 11:00 p.m.*