Tampere

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Tampere :: Tampere_University_of_Technology

**Tampereen kaupunki**
**Tammerfors stad**
City	Tampere (1779)
Administrative Province	Western Finland
Historical Province	Tavastia
Area - Total - Land - Water	Ranked 129th 690.6 km² 522.7 km² 167.9 km²
Population - Total (2003-12-31) - Density	Ranked 3rd 206,097 378/km²

Tampere (Swedish name Tammerfors) is a city in southern Finland located between two lakes: Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by 18 metres, the Tammerkoski rapids linking them have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity. Tampere has always been an important railway junction, because tracks from many parts of the nation merge there.

Tampere, with about 200,000 inhabitants in the city itself, and more than 300,000 including the neighbouring municipalities, is the second most important urban centre in Finland after the Helsinki region and the biggest inland city in the Nordic countries.

In terms of population, Tampere is the third largest city in Finland, and the only city in the top four outside the Greater Helsinki area.

History

Tampere was founded as a market place around Tammerkoski river in 1775 by Gustav III of Sweden and four years later, 1779, it was granted a full township status. At this time Tampere was rather small town, consisting of only a few square kilometers of land around Tammerkoski rapids.

Tampere grew as a major market place and industrial centre in the 19th century. During the latter half of 19th century Tampere had almost half of Finland's industrial labour. The town's industrial nature in the 19th and 20th centuries gave it the nickname 'Manchester of the North', Manse for short.

Tampere was the centre of many important political events of Finland in the early 20th century. On 1 November 1905 the famous Red Declaration was given during the general strike on Keskustori, the central square of Tampere, subsequently leading to universal suffrage in Finland and the Tsar of Russia granting larger freedoms to Finns. In 1918, when Finland had recently gained independence, Tampere also played a major role, being one of the strategically important scenes during the Civil War in Finland (January 28 - May 15 1918). Tampere was a red stronghold during the war, Hugo Salmela in command. White forces captured Tampere seizing about 10.000 Red prisoners on April 6. Prevalent in Tampere's post-World War II municipal politics has been the so called Brothers-in-Arms Axis (aseveliakseli), the alliance of political parties from both the left and right. During this era some of the most renowned mayors of Tampere have been Erkki Napoleon Lindfors (who was responsible for many ambitious construction projects such as the Näsinneula tower and the foundation of the suburb of Hervanta, Tampere's "daughter town"), Pekka Paavola (who gained some notoriety in corruption scandals) and Jarmo Rantanen.

After World War II Tampere was enlarged by joining some neighbouring areas. Messukylä was incorporated in 1947, Lielahti 1950, Aitolahti in 1966 and finally Teisko in 1972. Tampere was known for its textile and metal industry, but these have been largely replaced by information technology and telecommunications industry during the 1990s. Technology centre Hermia in Hervanta is home to many companies in these industries.

General

As of 2003 Tampere has a little over 200,000 inhabitants and is the third biggest city in Finland. Tampere's appeal is much brought about by the two universities, University of Tampere (UTA) and Tampere University of Technology (TUT), located in Hervanta. Each university has some 10,000 students.

Tampere is part of Pirkanmaa region and is surrounded by the municipalities of Kangasala, Kuru, Lempäälä, Nokia, Orivesi, Pirkkala, Ruovesi and Ylöjärvi.

During the 2000’s Tampere has situated very well in many imago, popularity and city-attractiveness-queries. It has always been, if not the best, near the top among the Finnish cities.

Culture

Tampere is known for its active cultural life. Some of the most popular writers in Finland, such as Väinö Linna, Kalle Päätalo or Hannu Salama hail from Tampere. These are all known as writers depicting the lives of working class people. Also from working class background was the famous poet Lauri Viita of Pispala district (which is the original home of Hannu Salama too). Tampere also has old theater traditions, with such established institutions as Tampereen Työväenteatteri and Tampereen Teatteri: Tampereen Teatterikesä is an international theater festival held in Tampere every August.

Tampere Film Festival, the international short film festival is held every March. Tammerfest is Tampere's urban rock festival held in every July.

Tampere is home to the television channel YLE TV2, with its studios at the Tohloppi district, known among all for such popular TV comedies as Tankki täyteen, Reinikainen and Kummeli.

Sports

Tampere's sporting scene is driven by the two ice hockey teams Ilves and Tappara. They both have had great impact on the Finnish ice hockey culture and are the most successful teams in Finland. Tampere is known as the hometown on finnish hockey. Finnish ice hockey museum is also located in Tampere. The first ice hockey arena in Finland was the Tampere Hakametsä hall. Football is also raising its head in the city with Tampere United winning the 2001 Finnish championship.

Sites of interest

The main tourist attraction is the Särkänniemi amusement park, which includes a dolphinarium and the landmark Näsinneula tower, topped by a revolving restaurant. Other sites of interests are Tampere City Library Metso ("wood grouse"), Kaleva Church (both designed by Reima Pietilä), the Tampere Hall for conferences and the Tampere Market Hall.

Tampere is also the home to one of the, if not the last museum in the world dedicated to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Lenin moved to Tampere in August 1905 and during a subsequent Bolshevik conference in the city, met Joseph Stalin for the first time. Lenin eventually fled Tampere (for Sweden) in November 1907 when being pursued by the Russian Okhrana. Lenin would not return to any part of the Russian Empire until 10 years later during the start of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Pispala is a ridge located between lake Näsijärvi and lake Pyhäjärvi. It used to house the majority of industrial labour in late 19th and early 20th century. Currently it is a popular residential area and together with neighbouring Pyynikki it forms an important historical area of Tampere.

There are many museums and galleries, including:

The Vapriikki Museum Centre which includes the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame and the Shoe Museum
Tampere Art Museum
Tampere Lenin Museum
The Muumilaakso Museum, all about Moomins
The Amuri museum of Workers' Housing
The Museum of Minerals
The Sara Hildén Art Museum (within Särkäniemi themepark)
The Museum of Dolls and Costumes
The Spy Museum
The Arboretum
The Central Museum of Labour in Finland

Statistics

Population 200 980

Founded 1779

To Helsinki 173 km

Area 690,6 km²

Max temp °C +29,8

Min temp °C -26,4

Pop. density 378/km²

Notable persons

Twin towns

Braşov, Romania Chemnitz, Germany Essen, Germany Kaunas, Lithuania Kiev, Ukraine Kópavogur, Iceland Linz, Austria Łódź, Poland Miskolc, Hungary Nizhni Novgorod, Russia Norrköping, Sweden Odense, Denmark Olomouc, Czech Republic Syracuse, United States Tartu, Estonia Trondheim, Norway

Trivia

A newer, but less common, nickname for Tampere is Nääsville, a portmanteau between the Tamperean dialect word nääs (meaning something like "you know") and the American city of Nashville.
A local food speciality is mustamakkara, which resembles the blood sausage of northern England.
"Manserock" means rock music originating from Tampere.
The asteroid 1497 Tampere was named after the city by its discoverer, the Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä.
In 2001 the symphonic metal band Nightwish recorded a live DVD called From Wishes to Eternity in Tampere.
Russian leaders Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin met each other for the first time in Tampere, 1905.

External links

Municipalities of Pirkanmaa Region | Tampere | Cities and towns in Finland

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