Turku
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Template:FIdot Turku (Swedish: Åbo Template:Audio, Latin: Aboa) is a city in Finland, founded in the 13th century. Turku is the fifth largest city in Finland, with a population of about 175 000, and is located in the south-west of the country at the mouth of the Aura river. Due to its history and location, over 5% of its inhabitants are Swedish speakers. It is the capital of both the region of Finland Proper and the province of Western Finland.
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History
Turku_cathedral_26-Dec-2004.jpg
There have been findings dating back to the Stone Age in the area of the modern city of Turku, but it did not become an important city until the late 13th century, thus being the oldest city in Finland. The origins of the city's name are in the Old Russian word tǔrgǔ, meaning 'market place'. The Cathedral of Turku was dedicated in 1300, and together with the Turku Castle and the Dominican monastery founded in 1229, it made Turku the most important centre of mediaeval Finland.
During the Middle Ages, Turku was the only city in Finland to take part in trade with the Hanseatic League, as well as being the seat of the Bishop of Turku (later Archbishop of Turku). The population of the city was around two thousand, and in the 1620s it became the residence of the Governor-General of Finland, thus affirming its status as the capital of Finland. In 1640, the first university in Finland, the Academy of Åbo, was founded in Turku.
After Sweden ceded Finland to Imperial Russia in the Treaty of Hamina in 1809, thus ending the Finnish War, the functions of capital started to be moved away from Turku and into Helsinki, as Emperor Alexander I felt that Turku was too far away from Russia to efficiently serve as capital of the Grand Duchy. The move took place officially in 1812. The government offices that remained in Turku were finally moved to the new capital after the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, which almost completely destroyed the city.
After the fire, a new, safer city plan was drawn up by German architect Carl Engel, who had also designed the new capital, Helsinki. Turku was still to remain the largest city in Finland for another twenty years.
In 1918, a new university, the Åbo Akademi - the only Swedish-language university in Finland - was founded in Turku. Two years later the Finnish-language University of Turku was founded on its side. In the late 20th century, Turku displayed unprecedented rates of growth, resulting in the construction of many new densely inhabited suburbs such as Varissuo and Runosmäki, and many neighbouring municipalities (eg Maaria and Paattinen) were annexed into the city.
Geography
The total area of the city is 306 square kilometres, of which 63 km² is water. There are 719 inhabitants per one km² of land. The city is divided into two parts by the river Aura, referred popularly to täl pual jokke ('this side of the river', referring to the eastern side where the Cathedral of Turku is located) and tois pual jokke ('the other side of the river', ie the western side). The city centre is rather equally spread on both sides of the river.
As many small neighbouring municipalities that were in financial problems were annexed to the city during the latter half of the 20th century, the city's shape is now reminescent of an elongated pear. The city centre and most of the suburban areas lie in the middle, separated from the less densely populated rural areas to the north by the Turku bypass, part of European route E18. Islands, such as Ruissalo, Hirvensalo and Kakskerta, form the southern part of the city. These are also sparsely populated and mostly contain summer residences, with the exception of the Moikoinen district in Hirvensalo, which is currently growing as an upper-middle-class suburb.
The Turku region, with a population of 290 000, is the third largest urban region in Finland, after Greater Helsinki and the area around Tampere. The Turku region is usually considered to include, in addition to the city itself, at least the neighbouring cities of Naantali, Raisio and Kaarina and the town of Lieto. Often also municipalities such as Pargas, Piikkiö, Paimio, Aura, Vahto, Rusko and Masku are included in this definition, as they are certainly inside the city's sphere of influence.
Government and districts
Being both a region and province capital, Turku is an important administrative centre. It hosts the seat of the Archbishop of Finland and a Court of Appeal.
Armas Lahoniitty has been the city manager of Turku since 1996. The city council and municipal government have long been dominated by the Social Democrats and the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), with approximately equal representation. The current chair of the city government is Aleksi Randell from Kokoomus.
The city has been divided into districts for statistical purposes only, as there is no local government on a district level. There are, however, some projects based on the district division, especially in the eastern part of the city where some districts have notable problems with unemployment. The largest districts by population are Varissuo and Runosmäki. By area, Kakskerta and Paattinen, which have only lately been annexed, constitute the largest districts.
Access and public transport
Turku_castle.jpg
Rail
There are several daily rail services from Turku to Helsinki and towards Tampere (and further to the direction of Joensuu) operated by the Finnish national carrier VR. All passenger services depart from, or stop at, Turku Central Railway Station (some depart from the Port of Turku), and those going to Helsinki make another stop at Kupittaa Railway Station. The other railway stations in the city are only used by goods traffic. Travelling by rail is usually the cheapest and fastest way to get into Turku, but due to the lack of connections towards the north it is not always an option.
Road
Turku is the terminal point of several important Finnish highways:
- Highway 1 to Helsinki, which forms part of the European route E18;
- Highway 8 to Oulu (via Rauma), which forms part of the European route E8;
- Highway 9 to Kuopio (via Tampere), which forms part of the European route E63;
- and Highway 10 to Hämeenlinna.
Long-distance buses
Privately-operated bus companies have services from Turku along all the major roads to nearly every direction. However, they usually take longer than rail transport.
Air
Turku Airport is located eight kilometres to the north of the city centre, partly in the neighbouring municipality of Rusko, and has frequent connections to Helsinki (Vantaa), Stockholm (Arlanda) and Copenhagen (Kastrup) airports. The flights are operated mainly by Finnair and SAS, and their subsidiaries.
Ferry
The Port of Turku has daily ferry services to Sweden and Åland, operated by Silja Line, Viking Line and SeaWind Line. These are somewhat of a Finnish cultural tradition (see ruotsinlaiva), and people often travel long distances across Finland to Turku just to be able to take a cruise across the Gulf of Bothnia.
Internal and regional public transport
Turku has, for a city of its size, very good public transport connections. The city transport currently consists of buses only. It is managed and supervised by the City of Turku Public Transport Office, and operated mainly by private companies. All of the major districts are served by buses every ten or fifteen minutes (some even more often) in the daytime.
Regional buses are operated by private companies, most importantly TLO with very frequent services especially to the neighbouring cities of Naantali, Raisio and Kaarina. TLO has been accused, however, of abusing its near-monopoly position and setting prices excessively high.
There are plans for a light railway line in the Turku region in the near future. This system would serve the major suburbs of the city (namely Varissuo and Runosmäki) as well as the neighbouring cities.
Economy
The city's economic is centred around the Port of Turku and different services. 86 per cent of the city's workforce are employed in the services sector. The city is also a renowned high-tech centre - the Turku Science Park area in Kupittaa hosts over 300 companies from the fields of biotechnology and information technology, as well as several establishments of higher education which work in close cooperation with the businesses.
Turku is also an important centre for tourism, with its good transport connections and proximity to the Archipelago Sea, and frequently hosts different conventions and exhibitions.
Education
There are three universities in Turku:
There are also several polytechnics:
- Turku Polytechnic (the largest polytechnic in Finland)
- Sydväst Polytechnic
- Humanities Polytechnic
- Diaconia Polytechnic
In addition, there are 39 primary schools (ala-aste), 14 secondary schools (yläaste), 13 upper secondary schools (lukio), 7 different special needs schools, 7 vocational schools, several open colleges, and Turku International School.
Media
The most widely read newspaper in Turku and the area around it is the daily regional morning newspaper Turun Sanomat, with over 70% of the population reading it every day. The free-of-charge Turkulainen and Aamuset are also among the most popular newspapers, together with the national evening tabloid Ilta-Sanomat. There are also a number of local newspapers such as Kulmakunta (for the eastern suburbs of Turku, including Varissuo and Lauste) and Rannikkoseutu (for the area around the neighbouring cities of Raisio and Naantali). The only Swedish-language local newspaper is Åbo Underrättelser.
The newspaper Turun Sanomat also operates a regional television station, called Turku TV. The Finnish national broadcaster, Yleisradio, shows daily (Monday to Friday) local news for Southwest Finland (including the regions of Finland Proper and Satakunta. In addition, a number of local radio stations operate in the area. In web there is also culture information based Unikankare.
Culture
Cultural venues in Turku include several theatres and cinemas, a city philharmonic orchestra, and numerous museums and art galleries (such as the Aboa Vetus museum, built over the site of archaeological excavations of 14th century remains, Turku Art Museum, the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, and the Sibelius museum). The city's cultural centre organises a number of regular events, most notably the Medieval Market in July each year. Turku is also the official Christmas city of Finland.
The Turku Music Festival and the rock festival Ruisrock (held on the island of Ruissalo) are among the oldest in their kind in Scandinavia. The city also boasts a vibrant nightlife.
External links
- Turku (http://www.turku.fi/) - Official site
- Turku TouRing (http://www.turkutouring.fi/etusivu_englanti.phtml) - A tourist organisation for the Turku regionid:Turku
bg:Турку de:Turku et:Turu es:Turku eo:Turku fr:Turku ga:Túrcú it:Turku he:טורקו la:Aboa lt:Turku nds:Turku nl:Turku ja:トゥルク pl:Turku ro:Turku ru:Турку fi:Turku sv:Åbo