Tampere

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**City of Tampere**

city in Finland

Province	Western Finland
Region	Pirkanmaa
Sub-region	Tampere
City manager	Mayor Timo P. Nieminen
Official languages	Finnish
Area - total - land	ranked 129th 687.9 km² 522.7 km²
Population - total (Dec 31, 2006) - change - density	ranked 3rd 206,414 +0.7 % 391/km²
Urbanisation	96.9 %
Unemployment rate	13.2 %
http://www.tampere.fi/

Tampere (pronunciation (help·info), Tammerfors in Swedish) 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. Railway tracks from many parts of the nation meet at Tampere railway station, making it an important junction on the VR system.

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 largest city outside the Greater Helsinki area.

1 History
2 General
3 Culture
4 Sports
5 Sites of interest
6 Statistics
7 Notable persons
8 Twin towns
9 Trivia
10 External links

[edit] History

Tammerkoski, Tampere, December 2, 2002

The old Finlayson works, Tampere

City Hall, Tampere

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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 was the so called Brothers-in-Arms Axis (aseveliakseli), the alliance of conservatives and social democrats against communists and Agrarian party. During this era some of the most renowned city managers of Tampere were Erkki Napoleon Lindfors (who was responsible for many ambitious construction projects such as the Näsinneula tower and the construction of the suburb of Hervanta, Tampere's "daughter town"), Pekka Paavola (who gained some notoriety in corruption scandals) and Jarmo Rantanen. From 2007 on Tampere will switch to a new model of having a mayor and four deputy mayors; chosen for the periods of two years in time. Timo P. Nieminen was elected as the first mayor of Tampere for the years 2007-2009.

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.

[edit] General

Tampere from the Näsinneula tower.

Christmas lights on Hämeenkatu, in central Tampere.

Tampereen Teatteri

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.

[edit] 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 Työväen Teatteri, Tampereen Teatteri and Pyynikin Kesäteatteri, which is an open-air theatre with the oldest revolving auditorium in Europe. Tampereen Teatterikesä or Tampere Theatre Festival 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 Music Festivals organises three international music events; Tampere Jazz Happening each November, and on alternate years Tampere Vocal Music Festival and Tampere Biennale.

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.

[edit] 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 of Finnish hockey. The Finnish ice hockey museum, and the first ice hockey arena to be built in Finland, the Tampere Hakametsä Hall, are both located in Tampere. Football is also raising its head in the city with Tampere United winning the 2001 and 2006 Finnish championships.

[edit] Sites of interest

Kaleva Church by architect Reima Pietilä.

Eastern orthodox church in Tampere

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 when he heard 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, when it was part of Suur-Pirkkala and its follower Pohjois-Pirkkala. It was free area to be built for working class people working in Tampere factories. It was joined to Tampere in late 1920s. 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

[edit] Statistics

Population 204 337

Founded 1779

To Helsinki 173 km

Area 690,6 km²

Max temp °C +29,8

Min temp °C -26,4

Pop. density 378/km²

[edit] Notable persons

For a more complete list, see Category:People from Tampere.

[edit] 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, New York, United States
Tartu, Estonia
Trondheim, Norway
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

[edit] Trivia

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items into the main text and removing inappropriate items.

This article has been tagged since June 2007.

Tampere has been compared to the English city of Manchester, which is the third largest city in the UK (Tampere being the third largest city in Finland). The term Manserock (see below) is suggested to have derived from this.
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.
Computer game developer 10tons Entertainment is based in Tampere.