Pori

Pori
—  City  —
Porin kaupunki
The old Town Hall of Pori
Coat of arms
Location of Pori in Finland
Coordinates: 61°29′N 021°48′E / 61.483°N 21.8°E / 61.483; 21.8Coordinates: 61°29′N 021°48′E / 61.483°N 21.8°E / 61.483; 21.8
Country	Finland
Province	Western Finland
Region	Satakunta
Sub-region	Pori sub-region
Charter	1558
Government
- City manager	Aino-Maija Luukkonen
Area (2009-01-01)[1]
- Total	1,372.04 km2 (529.7 sq mi)
- Land	517.14 km2 (199.7 sq mi)
- Water	854.9 km2 (330.1 sq mi)
Area rank	75th largest in Finland
Population (2009-06-30)[2]
- Total	76,562
- Density	148.05/km2 (383.4/sq mi)
Population rank	11th largest in Finland
Population by native language [3]
- Finnish	98% (official)
- Swedish	0.5%
- Others	1.5%
Population by age [4]
- 0 to 14	15%
- 15 to 64	65.2%
- 65 or older	19.8%
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5]	18.25%
Website	www.pori.fi

Pori (Swedish: Björneborg) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some 15 kilometres (9 mi) from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is part of the province of Western Finland and is the most important town in the Satakunta region.

The municipality has a population of 76,562 (30 June 2009)^[2] and covers an area of 1,372.04 square kilometres (529.75 sq mi) of which 854.9 km² (330.1 sq mi) is water.^[1] The population density is 148.05 /km² (383.4 /sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Pori is the 11th largest city in Finland, and the 7th largest urban area.

The Neo-Gothic Juselius Mausoleum, located in the Käppärä cemetery in central Pori, was built in 1903 by the wealthy industrialist F.A. Juselius for his daughter Sigrid, who died when she was only 11 years old. The mausoleum was designed by the architect Josef Stenbäck. The mausoleum originally had frescoes painted by artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela, but these decayed after a short time. The frescoes were restored by Akseli's son Jorma Gallen-Kallela using his father's sketches.

Pori is known, among other things, for the sandy beaches of Yyteri and for hosting Pori Jazz, an annual international jazz festival.

Name

The name Pori comes from its original Swedish name Björneborg's last part, borg (castle), which is pronounced in a similar way.^[6] The Swedish name Björneborg means Bear castle, and the Latin name Arctopolis means Bear city.

History

The river had a key role in the creation of Pori. Sailing in the Kokemäki river had become more and more difficult after the 1300s. The importance of Kokemäki and Ulvila began to decline when ships could no longer navigate the river. In the 1500s, the situation had become so bad that John III (Finnish: Juhana III or Juhana-herttua) decided to establish a new harbour and market town closer to the sea. The concept and location and were good, but the inhabitants were missing.

The Bourgeois of Rauma and Ulvila had been ordered to move to Helsinki, which had recently been founded, however they did not enjoy living in Helsinki, and after numerous pleas the citizens of Rauma were given permission to return to their previous homes. However, those from Ulvila were ordered to migrate to the newly founded city of Pori. On March 8, 1558 John III gave the charter of Pori, which read: "Because we have seen that it would be best to build a strong market town alongside the sea, and because we cannot find anywhere suitable for fortifying in Ulvila, we have chosen another location at Pori."^[7]

At the time Pori had around 300 involuntary residents. However, they soon recognised the advantages of their new location, which offered opportunities for profitable trading, amongst other things.

The Juselius Mausoleum, designed by Josef Stenbäck

Geography

Climate

Politics

Pori gives relatively strong support to the Social Democratic Party. In 2008, the party gained 29.8% of the votes, while the second largest party, National Coalition Party, got 26.1%. The mayor of Pori is Aino-Maija Luukkonen, who was elected to run the city in 2004 after the former mayor, Martti Sinisalmi, retired from the post.

Sports

Porin Narukerä, or just Narukerä, play in the highest bandy division and have become Finnish champions once.

Demographics

More than 98% of the population has Finnish as their first language, and about 2% has either Arabic, French, German, Russian or Swedish as their first language. There is a small minority of about 0.5% of Swedish speakers in the city.^[3] There is a Swedish School and a Swedish Culture Club that are aimed at serving the Finland-Swedish minority in the Satakunta region.

Population development

The population peaked in the mid-1970s, when it was over 80 000. After that the population declined, and in recent years has remained steady at just over 76 000. The significant population increase in 1950 was the result of annexing nearby areas.

• Source^[8]

People

• Eija Kantola – Finnish singer born 1966
• Veli-Pekka Ketola – Finnish ice hockey player born 1948
• Antti Sumiala – Finnish footballer born 1974
• Timo Koivusalo – Finnish actor and film director born 1963
• Olli Lindholm – Finnish singer of the band Yö. Born 1964
• Visa Mäkinen – Finnish film director born 1945
• Pertti Neumann – Finnish singer of the band Dingo in the 80's. Born 1959
• Kai Niemi – Motorcycle speedway rider born 1955
• Selim Palmgren – Finnish composer born 1878
• Jukka Rintala – Finnish designer born 1952
• Jukka Syrenius – Finnish blues musician born 1951
• Leo-Pekka Tähti – Finnish paraathletic with two olympic golds. Born 1983
• Kielo Tommila – Finnish actress born 1950
• Jorma Uotinen – Finnish dancer born 1950

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

• Bremerhaven, Germany, since 1967
• Eger, Hungary, since 1973
• Kołobrzeg, Poland, since 1975
• Mâcon, France, since 1990
• Porsgrunn, Norway, since 1956
• Riga, Latvia, since 1965^[9]
• Stralsund, Germany, since 1968
• Sundsvall, Sweden, since 1940
• Sønderborg, Denmark, since 1952

Trivia

The asteroid 1499 Pori was named after the city by its discoverer, the Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä.

Transmitter facility

There is a broadcasting facility near Pori for medium-wave and short-wave broadcasting managed by Digita. The medium-wave transmitter uses a 185 m (607 ft) guyed mast as an aerial.

References

External links

• Media related to Pori at Wikimedia Commons
• City of Pori – Official website

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