Kulmakivi

Kulmakivi is a Finnish term meaning cornerstone or foundation stone. The word combines kulma, "corner," with kivi, "stone," and it refers to the stone placed at the corner of a building’s foundation during the early stages of construction. The kulmakivi typically serves as a reference point for aligning walls and establishing the building's origin; in many traditions it is chosen for its ceremonial and symbolic value as much as its practical purpose.

In traditional construction, the cornerstone helped mark the starting point of masonry work and sometimes bore inscriptions with the date of the project, the name of the patron, or other information. In contemporary practice, the foundation stone remains largely symbolic, but ceremonies still accompany the groundbreaking of significant buildings, with a dignitary or project leader placing the stone and often sealing the event with an inscription or time capsule.

The term kulmakivi is also used figuratively in Finnish to denote the essential or foundational element of a plan, argument, or organization. When someone refers to the kulmakivi of a strategy, they are pointing to its central, indispensable component. In Finnish discourse, the concept parallels international terms such as "foundation stone" or "cornerstone" and is used in architectural, historical, and metaphorical contexts.