Pirkkala

Sister cities

• Nordre Follo
• Valjala Rural Municipality
• Gladsaxe Municipality
• Solna Municipality

History

The former parish of Suur-Pirkkala (Great Pirkkala) is mentioned in historical writings from the 14th century. It occupied over half of Pirkanmaa, a region nowadays populated by about 526,000 inhabitants. Suur-Pirkkala began to split when new parishes and municipalities were founded and wanted independence. In 1922 the Pirkkala was split into Pohjois- (Northern) and Etelä-Pirkkala (Southern Pirkkala) due to a movement in Southern Pirkkala led by agronomist Hannes Palmroth of the Partola Estate to gain independence from the more industrial North. In 1938 the name of Northern Pirkkala was changed to Nokia and after an appeal to the President of Finland Kyösti Kallio in 1939, Southern Pirkkala reverted to its original name Pirkkala. The present-day province of Pirkanmaa that was founded in the 1950s is named after Pirkkala as it was in the center of the region that was more or less the same area as the historic Great Pirkkala