Whether an immigrant, a sportsman or an exporter, a Finn will take the sauna with him wherever he goes. Finnish soldiers at war needed their baths just like others and built a dugout or tent sauna whenever possible. Finns serving in the UN peace corps have also attracted attention by building a sauna at every base they end up at. The design was Finnish, and the venture gave publicity to the idea of the sauna in Central Europe. A sauna is a standard element in swimming baths and sports centres, hotels, holiday centres and camping sites.
Innumerable families have sauna cottages by a lake or by the sea.
An enterprise wishing to maintain the image of a successful business absolutely must have a sauna or sauna suite of its own. Finnish boats and car ferries have long served their passengers with saunas, and even the possibility of a train sauna is being investigated. The number of sauna types seems to be increasing, and the only one which has practically disappeared is the public sauna of the town. A facility for many functions Our ancestors did not use their sauna only for bathing. It was needed for drying flax, preparing malts, curing meat and for many other agricultural or domestic chores.