The beautiful Art Nouveau castle of Grand Hotel Cascade was opened in 1903, welcoming the creme de la creme of Russian society. At the same time, the Russification manifesto of the Czar tightened the atmosphere among the locals, and eventually the revolution overthrew the Czar - and put a full stop for tourism in Imatra. 

After the WWI, in the Finnish civil war, the front line was close to Imatra, and Grand Hotel Cascade served as a military hospital for the White troops.

The theme of the 1920s was industrialisation and harnessing the river into electricity production, which also spiced up the life Valtionhotelli - the aristocrats were out but technocrats were in.

The second episode of Grand Hotel Cascade covers a 30-year era of transformation in 1900-1929.