Ruskeala

An inundated quarry

A waterfall

Ruskeala (Russian: Рускеала) is a rural locality (a settlement) under the administrative jurisdiction of the town of Sortavala in the Republic of Karelia, Russia.

Before the Winter War and Continuation War it was the center of Ruskeala municipality of the Viipuri Province of Finland. Ruskeala became the main village of its own parish, independent of Kitee, in 1721.

Not far from the settlement, the Ruskeala marble quarries are located (ru). The deposit was discovered in 1765 and has been in operation since 1769. The quarries, as well as some other marble deposits of Karelia, the Urals, and Italy, supplied various projects in Saint Petersburg, including Saint Isaac's Cathedral, Marble Palace, Saint Michael's Castle, the interiors of the Winter Palace, New Hermitage and Kazan Cathedral, and decorations of Saint Petersburg Metro (namely the Primorskaya and Ladozhskaya stations). Integrity of the massif of the marble was cracked in the 20th century due to the use of dynamite. For this reason some quarries were abandoned and inundated. Now these picturesque deep quarries and adits with limpid water serve as a popular tourist attraction.

A series of small cascade waterfalls on the river Tohmajoki (ru) is another popular tourist attraction situated near the settlement.

Stanislav Rostotsky's war film The Dawns Here Are Quiet was also filmed there in 1972.

Teuvo Aura (1912–1999), former Mayor of Helsinki and Prime Minister of Finland, and Yrjö Keinonen (1912–1977), the Chief of Defence of the Finnish Defence Forces between 1965 and 1969, were born in Ruskeala.