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
.
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

Tammerkoski, December 2, 2002
Tampere 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).

The old Finlayson works
Tampere 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.
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.
Geography
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.
Tampere English Service is an international community
affiliated with the
Tampere
Pentecostal Church. English services of the
International Congregation of Christ the King (ICCK)
are organized by the
Anglican Church in Finland 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,
Evangelical Free
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
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 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.
There are many museums and galleries, including:
Pispala
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
1937.
Currently it is a popular residential area and together with
neighbouring
Pyynikki it forms an important
historical area of Tampere.
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 asteroid 1497 Tampere was named after the city by its
discoverer, the Finnish astronomer
Yrjö Väisälä.
- 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:
Notes
External links