An idyllic wooden district, old industrial milieu and unique artists’ community awaits travellers who cross the pedestrian bridge from the Market Square to Pikisaari Island. Pikisaari (in English: Pitch Island) got its name from an old pitch works founded in the 17th century. Besides that, the island has housed shipyards, a sawmill, a distillery, a wool mill, and a machine workshop. Nowadays the island is the home and studio for many artists and artisans.

Pikisaari Island has residential and industrial buildings as well as granaries from the 18th and 19th centuries as well as the early 20th century. Many of the original wooden houses remain standing, although several fires have tested the island. The oldest wooden building in Oulu accommodates the Sailor’s Home Museum. Another building worth seeing is the old, decorative office of the local machine workshop from the 1880s, nowadays used as a residential house. It represents the neo-renaissance style with a tower that is a notable landmark among the houses on the island. Unique accommodation businesses have also found home at the heart of the island, and there are charming restaurants, too.