Opened in central Raahe in late June, the new Matti’s Cosmos Art Park makes the sculptures of Pattijoki-based ITE artist Matti Lepistö easily accessible to everyone. The new attraction is part of the official Oulu2026 cultural programme.
A new attraction has been opened in Raahe. Matti’s Cosmos Art Park brings the distinctive sculptural art of Pattijoki-based ITE artist Matti Lepistö (1948–2020) to an easily accessible location in the heart of the city. Situated between Raahe Main Library and the city’s central playground, the park is one of the permanent cultural legacies of the Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture year.
The park features 34 concrete sculptures relocated from Lepistö’s original sculpture park in Mansikkakari, Pattijoki. Together, they offer a cross-section of the artist’s extensive body of work, where imagination, nature, animals and people come together. The park serves as an introduction to Lepistö’s art, while the original sculpture park in Pattijoki remains open to the public. With their playful character, inventive details and distinctive figures, the sculptures are particularly inspiring to children’s imaginations, making the park an engaging destination for the whole family.
Extensive inventory project safeguards Lepistö’s legacy
The City of Raahe purchased Matti Lepistö Sculpture Park and property in 2025, after which the sculptures were inventoried and catalogued. Nearly 650 sculptures were found in total. The catalogued works can be viewed in Finna, Finland’s online search service for cultural heritage collections.
According to Hilla Nättilä, who carried out the inventory, the aim of the new park is to make Lepistö’s unique art accessible to an even wider audience.
“The City of Raahe wanted to bring this story and the world revealed through the sculptures closer to people here in the city-centre park, Matti’s Cosmos. While the park in Mansikkakari, Pattijoki, continues to live on, the location in central Raahe is easily accessible to a wider audience, both local residents and visitors to the city.”
Matti’s Cosmos complements Raahe’s growing collection of sculpture and art attractions and offers a new year-round destination for lovers of culture and art.
Read more information about the artist and both sculpture parks
Who was Matti Lepistö?
Matti Lepistö (1948–2020) was an ITE artist and contemporary folk artist from Pattijoki. His distinctive concrete sculptures are known for their imaginative figures and themes that bring together nature, animals and people. A machinist by profession, Lepistö later devoted himself entirely to art and developed his own technique for sculpting in concrete. His passion for sculpture was sparked by a course at an adult education centre in the 1980s. His life’s work lives on both in the original sculpture park in Pattijoki and in the new Matti’s Cosmos art park in central Raahe.
