Tampere (;
Swedish:
Tammerfors or ) is a city in southern
Finland located between two lakes,
Näsijärvi and
Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by , the rapids linking them,
Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity. Tampere is dubbed the "
Manchester of Finland" for its industrial past as the former center of Finnish industry, and this has given rise to its Finnish nickname "Manse" and terms using that such as
Manserock.
[, Tampere International Business Office][, The City of Tampere]The Tampere region, called
Pirkanmaa, which includes outlying municipalities, had around 470,000 residents, of which 230,000 were employed, and a turnover of 25 billion euros in 2007.
Tampere is the most populous inland city in any of the
Nordic countries. The city has a population of ,
with close to 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area.
Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in Finland, after the
Greater Helsinki municipalities of
Helsinki and
Espoo. Helsinki can be reached in 1.5 hours by train and 2 hours by car. The distance to
Turku is approximately the same.
Tampere airport is the third-busiest airport in Finland, with 800,000 passengers annually.
History
left|thumb|200px|Tammerkoski, December 2, 2002Tampere was founded as a market place on the banks of the Tammerkoski channel in 1775 by
Gustav III of Sweden and four years later, 1779, Tampere was granted full
city rights in 1779. At this time, it was a rather small town, consisting of only a few square kilometers of land around the Tammerkoski.
Tampere grew as a major market town 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 (in Finnish).
left|thumb|200px|The old Finlayson worksTampere was the centre of many important political events of Finland in the early 20th century. On November 1, 1905, during the general strike, the famous
Red Declaration was proclaimed on the 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, with Hugo Salmela in command.
White forces captured Tampere, seizing about 10,000
Red prisoners on April 6.
thumb|left|The Renaissance Revival Kaupungintalo (City Hall), 1890; from its balcony was read the "red manifesto" in 1905.
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 the 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 switched to a new model of having a mayor and four deputy mayors, chosen for a periods of two years.
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 in 1950,
Aitolahti in 1966 and finally
Teisko in 1972. Tampere was known for its textile and metal industries, but these have been largely replaced by
information technology and
telecommunications during the 1990s. The technology centre
Hermia in
Hervanta is home to many companies in these fields.
thumb|200px|Tampere, from the Näsinneula towerGeography
Tampere is part of the
Pirkanmaa region and is surrounded by the
municipalities of
Kangasala,
Kuru,
Lempäälä,
Nokia,
Orivesi,
Pirkkala,
Ruovesi and
Ylöjärvi.
Climate
On average, the snow season lasts 4 – 5 months: from late November to mid-April.
Economy
The Tampere region, or
Pirkanmaa, which includes outlying municipalities, has around 0.47 million residents, 0.23 million employed, and 25 billion euro turnover as of 2007.
According to the Tampere International Business Office, the area is strong in mechanical engineering and automation, information and communication technologies, and health and biotechnology, as well as pulp and paper industry education. The Tampere region has two universities and three polytechnics totaling 40,000 students. The unemployment rate is around 10%.
Education
There are four institutions of higher education in the Tampere area: two universities and two polytechnics (). The universities are
University of Tampere (UTA),(more than 12,000 students) which is located right next to the city center, and
Tampere University of Technology (more than 12,000 students), located in
Hervanta. The two polytechnics (the term used by Finnish Ministry of Education), which call themselves in English "Universities of Applied Sciences", are
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu (5,000 students) and
Pirkanmaan ammattikorkeakoulu (4,500 students).
Culture
Tampere is known for its active cultural life. Some of the most popular writers in Finland, such as
Väinö Linna,
Kalle Päätalo and
Hannu Salama, hail from Tampere. These are all known as writers depicting the lives of working class people. Also from a working class background was the famous poet
Lauri Viita of the Pispala district (which is the original home of Hannu Salama too). Tampere also has old theatre 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 theatre festival held in Tampere every August.
Tampere is also known for its
Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland which featured American artist
Richard Humann in 2004, for his exhibition entitled, Delicate Monster.
Tampere Film Festival, an international
short film festival, is held every March.
Tammerfest is Tampere's urban rock festival held every July.
Tampere Music Festivals organises three international music events: Tampere Jazz Happening each November, and in alternate years Tampere Vocal Music Festival and Tampere Biennale.
Tampere is home to the television channel
YLE TV2, with its studios in the
Tohloppi district, known among all for such popular TV comedies as
Tankki täyteen,
Reinikainen and
Kummeli.
A local food speciality is
mustamakkara, which resembles black pudding of northern England.
Religion
Tampere has a variety of different religious services spanning from traditional to charismatic. There are also some English speaking services. is an international community affiliated with the . English services of the are organized by the and the Lutheran Parishes of Tampere. Other churches may also have English speaking ministries. Other notable churches in Tampere are
Nokia Revival,
Finnish Orthodox Church, , and Baptist Church.
Sports
Tampere's sporting scene is driven by two sports,
ice hockey and
football. As the first ice hockey match was played in Tampere, on the ice of
Näsijärvi, between
Ilves and
Pyrintö, Tampere is nicknamed the hometown of Finnish hockey. Two notably exceptional ice hockey teams exist in Tampere—
Ilves and
Tappara. They both have had a great impact on Finnish ice hockey culture and are among the most successful teams in Finland. The Finnish ice hockey museum, and the first ice hockey arena to be built in Finland, the
Hakametsä arena, are both located in Tampere.
Football, however, is the number one sport in Tampere. Only Ilves have over 4,000 players in their football teams, while Tampere boasts over 100 football teams alone.
Tampere United play at the highest level in Finland. The city also hosted two
flatwater canoeing world championships, in 1973 and 1983. In 1977, Tampere hosted the
Junior World Rowing Championships.
Tampere was the host of the 10th
European Youth Olympic Festival from 17 to 25 July 2009.
Rivalry between cities
Tampere ostensibly has a long-standing
mutual feud with the city of
Turku, the first capital of Finland. This hostility is largely expressed in jokes in one city about the other; prominent targets are the traditional Tampere food,
mustamakkara, the state of the
Aura River in Turku, and the regional accents. Students at Tampere have organized the
Non-Turkuan Nation (
Ei-Turkulainen Osakunta), which since 1997 has made annual excursions to Turku to jump on the market square, doing their part to undo the
post-glacial rebound and push the city back under the sea.
Popular music
There is a lot of musical activity in Tampere, especially in the realm of black metal / heavy metal and rock. Some of the more popular bands based in Tampere include
Negative, Circle of Ouroborus, Uniklubi, Horna, Sargeist and Behexen.
Manserock
Manserock is a general term for
rock music from Tampere. In the local slang Manse means Tampere. "Manse" comes from "
Manchester", as Tampere was one of the first industrial towns in Finland, and thus was similar to Manchester.
Although there was some earlier development of a rock scene in Tampere, Manserock is considered to have started in August 1969 when the famous musical
Hair was performed for the first time in a local theatre. Reijo Paukku brought the musical to Tampere from the
USA. Several local musicians participated in the show. The show received a lot of publicity in Tampere and in the whole of
Finland.
The 70s can be considered the golden age of Manserock and the word Manserock was introduced in the early 70's. Several local rock bands were popular in Finland and the reputation of Tampere as a rock city grew. The biggest name from that age is
Juice Leskinen. Some other noteworthy names are Virtanen, Kontra, and
Kaseva. All of these bands played rock music with Finnish lyrics.
In 1977
Poko Records was founded. This was the first record company in Tampere and it played an important role in the support of Manserock.
In the Late 70's Tampere was known for several
new wave bands although other styles of rock also existed. Bands like
Eppu Normaali,
Popeda, and Karanteeni spread knowledge of Manserock in Finland.
In the 80s many new bands were formed. However, some of the older bands continued and increased in popularity. Juice Leskinen, Eppu Normaali, and Popeda even published new recordings in the early 2000s.
Sites of interest
right|thumbnail|[[Kaleva Church, designed by
architect Reima Pietilä]]
right|thumbnail|150|Cathedral of TampereThe 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 interest are
Tampere Cathedral, 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 home to one of the last museums 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 ten years later, when he heard of the start of the
Russian Revolution of 1917.
Pispala is a ridge located between the two lakes,
Näsijärvi and
Pyhäjärvi. It used to house the majority of industrial labour in the late 19th and early 20th century, when it was part of Suur-Pirkkala and its follower Pohjois-Pirkkala. It was a free area to be built upon by the working class people working in Tampere factories. It was joined to Tampere in the 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
- Workers' housing museum in Amuri .
Transport
The
public transport network within Tampere consists exclusively of a
bus network, which is quite popular and qualified by Finnish standards. Between 1948 and 1976 the city also had an extensive
trolleybus network, which was also the largest trolleybus system in Finland. As of 2009 plans are being made for construction a
light rail system in the city to replace some of the most popular bus lines (
see Tampere light rail), as well as initiating
commuter rail service on the railroad lines connecting Tampere to the neighbouring cities of
Nokia and
Lempäälä.
Trivia
- The city administration building (not the historic City Hall), has more microwave transmitters than any other city government building in Scandinavia. Eight microwave transmitters are located on the roof in the back of the building, and three transmitters in the front of the building.
Notable persons
For a more complete list, see
:Category:People from Tampere.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Tampere is
twinned with:
