Lappeenranta
| Lappeenranta | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — City — | |||
| Lappeenrannan kaupunki | |||
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| |||
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| Coordinates: 61°04′N 028°11′E / 61.067°N 28.183°ECoordinates: 61°04′N 028°11′E / 61.067°N 28.183°E | |||
| Country | Finland | ||
| Region | South Karelia | ||
| Sub-region | Lappeenranta sub-region | ||
| Charter | 1649 | ||
| Government | |||
| - City manager | Seppo Miettinen | ||
| Area (2010-01-01)[1] | |||
| - Total | 1,723.76 km2 (665.5 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 1,433.54 km2 (553.5 sq mi) | ||
| - Water | 290.22 km2 (112.1 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 56th largest in Finland | ||
| Population (2010-01-31)[2] | |||
| - Total | 71,919 | ||
| - Density | 50.17/km2 (129.9/sq mi) | ||
| Population rank | 13th largest in Finland | ||
| Population by native language [3] | |||
| - Finnish | 95.9% (official) | ||
| - Swedish | 0.1% | ||
| - Others | 4% | ||
| Population by age [4] | |||
| - 0 to 14 | 15.1% | ||
| - 15 to 64 | 67% | ||
| - 65 or older | 17.9% | ||
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | ||
| Municipal tax rate[5] | 19.5% | ||
| Urbanisation | 90.4% | ||
| Unemployment rate | 14.7% | ||
| Website | www.lappeenranta.fi | ||
Lappeenranta (Swedish: Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality that resides on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Russian border. It belongs to the region of South Karelia. With approximately 72,000 inhabitants (31 January 2010) Lappeenranta is the 13th largest city in Finland.[2] The neighboring municipality of Joutseno was consolidated with Lappeenranta on January 1, 2009, and the neighboring municipality of Ylämaa on January 1, 2010.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] History
The town was chartered in 1649 by Queen Christina of Sweden, legitimizing the trade at the then popular marketplace of Lapvesi.
In 1741 the battle of Villmanstrand was fought between the Swedish and Russian armies in the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743. The battle ended in a Russian victory.
[edit] Services
[edit] Education
Lappeenranta has numerous schools at almost all levels of education, including the Lappeenranta University of Technology, South Karelia University of Applied Sciences, the Army Academy (branch of the Finnish Defence Forces), South Karelia Vocational College and South Karelia Adult Education Centre.
[edit] Transport
Lappeenranta is connected to neighbouring cities and municipalities by road, with railways heading north and south from the city.
During the summer, when Lake Saimaa and Saimaa Canal are accessible by water, there is a connection by ship from Lappeenranta to Vyborg, Russia.
There is also a small airport at Lappeenranta, which on a busy day serves roughly 3 aircraft.
[edit] Economy
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010) |
The city's main employers are the City of Lappeenranta, UPM-Kymmene, South Karelia Central Hospital, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Paroc, Nordkalk, VR-Group, Fazer, The Armed Forces and Larox.[citation needed] The airline Fly Lappeenranta has its head office on the grounds of Lappeenranta Airport.[6]
A large portion of the people working in Lappeenranta live in the neighbouring municipalities, mainly Taipalsaari, Lemi and Savitaipale.[citation needed]
[edit] Sports
Lappeenranta has multiple sports teams playing in top levels of Finnish sports leagues. SaiPa is an ice hockey team playing in the highest level in Finland, SM-Liiga. LrNMKY is a basketball team playing in the highest level in Korisliiga and have won two championships in 2005 and 2006. NST plays floorball in the Salibandyliiga and Rajaritarit is an American Football team in the Vaahteraliiga. In women's sports Catz Lappeenranta plays basketball and Pesä Ysit plays Finnish baseball, both in the top leagues of the nation. Lappeenrannan Veiterä, or just Veiterä, plays in the highest bandy division and has been Finnish champion 4 times. The city hosted the first ever Bandy World Championships for women in 2004.
[edit] Notable people
- Koop Arponen – singer and winner of the fourth series of the Idols in 2008.
- Laila Hirvisaari (formerly Laila Hietamies) - novelist, has written a novel series about Lappeenranta and its people
- Kari Jormakka - distinguished Professor of Architecture Theory at Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
- Kotiteollisuus – popular hard rock band
- Arvi Lind – legendary Finnish TV news reader
- Mokoma – a thrash metal band
- Hanna Pakarinen – the first Idols winner in Finland came from Lappeenranta
- Christian Ruuttu – ice hockey player in the NHL in USA
- Satanic Warmaster - legendary Finnish black metal band
- Vesa Vierikko – Finnish actor
[edit] Tourism
Lappeenranta is known as a summer city, mostly due to its closeness to the Lake Saimaa. In addition, its inland location means that summers tend to be warmer and winters colder than along the coastal areas.
Lappeenranta, however, does have a healthy winter tourism industry. Various cabins around Lake Saimaa, as well as numerous snowmobile, skiing and sledding tracks draw a fair number of winter visitors.
The proximity of the Russian border is increasingly visible in the number of Russian tourists visiting the city. In fact, Lappeenranta is closer (211 km) to Saint Petersburg than Helsinki, the capital of Finland (221 km). The presence of Russians is noticeable by the many Russian registered cars on the streets and the use of signs in shops with Cyrillic letters.
Places and events
- The old fortress, with a number of museums, cafés and the oldest Russian Orthodox church in Finland.
- The harbour area, with cruises to Vyborg and the nearby Saimaa Canal.
- The central market place, where you can enjoy the local specialities, such as meat pies known as "Atomi" (atom) or "Vety" (hydrogen).
- The Night of The Fort, a two-day cultural festival held in early August.
- The annual Lappeenranta National Singing Contest.
- The "Huvisatama" (pleasure harbour) offers a wide variety of amusement during the summer.
- There are two private cinema theatre in Lappeenranta: Kino-Aula and Nuijamies.
[edit] International relations
[edit] Twin towns — Sister cities
Lappeenranta is twinned with:
Rakvere, Estonia
Stykkisholmur, Iceland
Drammen, Norway
Örebro, Sweden
Kolding, Denmark
Klin, Russia
Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
Szombathely, Hungary
Lake Worth, United States
[edit] References
- ^ "Area by municipality as of 1 January 2010" (in Finnish and Swedish) (PDF). Land Survey of Finland. http://www.maanmittauslaitos.fi/Pintaalat_kunnittain_1.1.2010.pdf. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
- ^ a b "Population by municipality as of 31 January 2010" (in Finnish and Swedish). Population Information System. Population Register Center of Finland. http://www.vrk.fi/vrk/files.nsf/files/D3B7ACAAF43AB897C22576C800390091/$file/20100131.htm. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
- ^ "Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area km2 by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=060_vaerak_tau_107_fi&ti=V%E4est%F6+kielen+mukaan+sek%E4+ulkomaan+kansalaisten+m%E4%E4r%E4+ja+maa%2Dpinta%2Dala+alueittain++1980+%2D+2008&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=3&multilang=fi. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
- ^ "Population according to age and gender by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=050_vaerak_tau_104_fi&ti=V%E4est%F6+i%E4n+%281%2Dv%2E%29+ja+sukupuolen+mukaan+alueittain+1980+%2D+2008&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=3&multilang=fi. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
- ^ "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2010". Tax Administration of Finland. 24 November 2009. http://www.vero.fi/download.asp?id=5853;25512. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ "Contact Us." Fly Lappeenranta. Retrieved on 25 February 2010.
[edit] External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lappeenranta |
- City of Lappeenranta – Official site
- Lappeenranta travel guide from Wikitravel
- Satellite Image of Lappeenranta at Google Maps
- Detailed aerial photography of Lappeenranta (press "ilmakuva"). Much more detail than in Google's service.
- goSaimaa.fi – travel information about Lappeenranta
[edit] Picture Gallery
 Kauppakatu street |  Memorial at Lappeenranta to the dead of the Winter and Continuation Wars |  Port of Lappeenranta by day | Lappeenranta harbour in the middle of autumn. |
| [hide] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Municipalities | Imatra · Lappeenranta · Lemi · Luumäki · Parikkala · Rautjärvi ·Ruokolahti · Savitaipale · Suomenniemi · Taipalsaari |  |
| Former municipalities | ||
| South Karelia · Finland | ||
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