Hämeenlinna

Sister cities

• Uppsala Municipality
• Bærum Municipality
• Toruń
• Frederiksberg
• Tartu
• Lucca
• Weimar
• Celle
• Püspökladány
• Sumy
• Hafnarfjörður

History

Vanaja is the name of a settlement near lake Vanajavesi that had been in existence since the Viking Age. The Häme Castle was built in the late 13th century by the order of Regent Birger Jarl to secure Swedish power in central Finland. A village was established near Häme Castle to provide services and goods to its inhabitants. The village was granted city rights as the first inland city in Finland on January 19, 1639, by Count Per Brahe the Younger, but Hämeenlinna, which still after that looked more like a rural village, developed very slowly, which was a typical problem for inland cities in Finland compared to the most prosperous coastal cities. Hämeenlinna has hosted numerous royal and imperial visits, including the visits of the Kings of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus, Adolf Frederick, Gustav III, and Gustav IV Adolf. During the Finnish Civil War in 1918, Hämeenlinna was initially in the area controlled by the Reds, but the Whites captured the city with the help of the Germans in the Battle of Hämeenlinna. After the war, the Hämeenlinna prison camp established for Red prisoners operated in the Poltinaho barracks area, and it was known as one of the most notorious high-discipline camps in the history of the Civil War, where female prisoners were also kept. By mid-September, over 2,000 Red prisoners died in the prison camp, mainly for communicable diseases such as smallpox, scarlet fever, typhus and Spanish flu. After World War II, Hämeenlinna underwent significant transformation as Finland shifted from a wartime economy to peacetime recovery. The city experienced substantial reconstruction efforts, which included the renovation of damaged infrastructure and the development of new housing to accommodate returning soldiers and their families. Häme County received 73,812…

Geography

There are a total of 339 lakes in whole or in part in the area of the city of Hämeenlinna. The largest of them are Lake Vanajavesi, Lake Kukkia and Lake Kuohijärvi. The main features of the Hämeenlinna landscape are the Häme Lake Plateau, the Vanajavesi Valley and the Kanta-Häme Grove Center. In many places, the landscapes are marked by the prosperous Tavastian agricultural culture. The city has several nature reserves, the largest of which are located in the popular recreation areas of Aulanko and Ahvenisto on the outskirts of the city. In total, there are 31 Natura 2000 areas in the city of Hämeenlinna. In addition, Hämeenlinna has Finland's first national urban park, established in 2001. The center of Hämeenlinna is located on the Saarinen Hill on the shores of Lake Vanajavesi, and is bordered on the west by Highway 3 (E12), while Highway 10 bypasses the city to the south and east. On the edge of the market square are the town hall, Hämeenlinna Church and the Häme County Government House. The city center is divided into four districts, which are Linnanniemi, Koilliskulma, Hämeensaari and Saaristenmäki. There are plenty of buildings of different styles in the city center, and in proportion to the city's population, it is quite large and densely built. The most significant expansion direction in the city center in the 2010s has been the Keinusaari district on the other side of Lake Vanajavesi, where, for example, the city's railway station is located. Supplementary construction has also been carried out in the city center on an ongoing basis. The center of Hämeenlinna has been ridiculed as "Finland's largest lit cemetery".