Lahti

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Lahden kaupunki
coat of arms map
Lahti Coat of Arms Location of Lahti in Finland
Basic data
State : FinlandFinland Finland
Landscape : Päijät-Häme
Administrative community : Lahti
Geographical location 60 ° 58 ′  N , 25 ° 40 ′  E Coordinates: 60 ° 58 ′  N , 25 ° 40 ′  E
Surface: 517.49 km²
of which land area: 459.28 km²
of which inland waterways: 58.21 km²
Residents : 119,951 (Dec. 31, 2018)
Population density : 261.2 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number : 398
Language (s) : Finnish
Website : lahti.fi
View of the center of Lahti
View of the center of Lahti

Lahti [ ˈlɑhti ] ( Swedish Lahtis ) (after Finnish. Lahti = 'bay') is the eighth largest city ​​in Finland . It is located about 100 km north of Helsinki in the Päijät-Häme region on Lake Vesijärvi .

history

It was not until 1905 that Lahti, which was mentioned in 1443, received city ​​rights . With the construction of the railway from Helsinki to Saint Petersburg in 1870 and the settlement of refugees during the winter war of 1940, the city grew rapidly in the 20th century . The famous Lahti ski games have been held in Lahti since 1923, with cross-country skiing and ski jumping as the focus. Several Soviet air raids on Lahti took place during the Winter War, the heaviest on March 2, 1940, when 70 houses were destroyed. During the Continuation War , the Soviet Union also carried out various air strikes on the city, which resulted in a total of 23 civilian deaths, 1.8% of the apartments were destroyed and 5.3% were badly damaged.

Until 1993 Lahti was the location of a large radio station for long wave and at times also short wave , the Lahti long wave transmitter . The antenna was a T-antenna suspended from two 150-meter-high, free-standing steel lattice towers built in 1927 . Today this facility is closed and houses a radio museum .

On January 1, 2016, Nastola was incorporated, which more than tripled the area of ​​the city.

Development of the population (December 31) :

1906-1955

  • 1906: 02,779
  • 1910: 05.996
  • 1925: 08.315
  • 1940: 24,757
  • 1945: 33.725
  • 1950: 43.571
  • 1955: 48.112

1960-1987

  • 1960: 65.210
  • 1965: 79.829
  • 1970: 88.393
  • 1975: 94.862
  • 1980: 94.767
  • 1985: 94.447
  • 1987: 93.671

1990-2003

  • 1990: 93.151
  • 1997: 95.854
  • 1999: 96,666
  • 2000: 96.921
  • 2001: 97,543
  • 2002: 97.968
  • 2003: 98.253

2004-2018

  • 2004: 098.281
  • 2005: 098.413
  • 2006: 098,766
  • 2007: 099,308
  • 2008: 100.080
  • 2009: 100,854
  • 2012: 103.065
  • 2018: 119.951

Culture and sights

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra ( Sinfonia Lahti ) under the conductor Okku Kamu is one of the top orchestras in the Nordic countries. It resides in the Sibelius Hall ( Finnish: Sibelius-Talo) in Lahti, which was designed by the young Finnish architects Hannu Tikka and Kimmo Lintula . The Sibelius Hall was opened in the spring of 2000. Due to its excellent acoustics, it is considered one of the best concert halls in Northern Europe .

Furthermore, the market square , which forms the center of the city, the town hall of Lahti, as well as the "Church of the Cross" located on Kirkkokatu, built in 1978 by Alvar Aalto , are worth seeing. At the Pikku Vesijärvi lake in the north-west of the city there is a small artificial lake with water games to classical music twice a day.

The radio museum is located on the site of the former long-wave transmitter . The two transmission towers, visible from afar, are part of the museum.

  • Sibelius Hall in Lahti

  • Alvar Aalto Church

  • The broadcasting towers of the broadcasting museum

politics

In October 2006 the EU heads of state and government met for the summit in Lahti to talk about energy security and improving the Union's capacity for innovation.

coat of arms

Description: In silver, a black, seven-spoke wheel with just as many red cutting edges.

Municipal council

In the local elections on October 30, 2008, the conservative National Assembly Party replaced the Social Democratic Party as the strongest parliamentary group. In the 2012 city council elections, it was able to maintain its status as the party with the most votes, despite losses. Like the Social Democrats, they now only have 18 seats in the local council (59 members in total). The big winners of the current election were the right-wing populist base Finns , who could triple the number of their seats to nine. Four other parties are represented with two to five seats.

Composition of the City Council (2013-2016)
Political party 2012 election results Seats
National rally party 29.7% 18th
Social Democratic Party 28.7% 18th
Base fins 14.9% 09
Left alliance 08.3% 05
Finnish Christian Democrats 07.5% 04th
Green covenant 05.2% 03
Center Party 04.7% 02
Rest 01.0% 00

economy

Lahti is an important industrial location for furniture, textile and glass production. One of the largest breweries / beverage manufacturers in Finland ( Hartwall ) is also located there.

traffic

Lahti train station

The Lahti railway station , built in 1935, is from the lines 13 (Helsinki - Kajaani ) - and 14 (Helsinki Joensuu the national railway company) VR Group approached. It is also the terminus of line Z of local rail transport in the Helsinki region . Travel times to Helsinki are 48 minutes with long-distance trains and one hour with local trains. Travel time to Saint Petersburg , Russia with Allegro is two hours and 40 minutes.

State road 4 (Helsinki - Utsjoki ) runs through Lahti , which is part of European route 75 ( Vardø / Norway - Sitia / Crete). It crosses State Road 12 ( Rauma - Kouvola ) in the urban area . State road 24 to Jämsä begins here .

Sports

The city is an important center of Nordic skiing . Since Lahti is the “sports capital” of Finland, there is a comprehensive sports complex in the west of the city, where, among other things, the Salpausselkä ski jump is three large ski jumping hills . Nordic World Ski Championships have already taken place here six times : in 1926 , 1938 , 1958 , 1978 , 1989 , 2001 and 2017 . The ski museum at the foot of the ski jumps houses several simulators with which you can experience jumping from a hill, a slalom race, cross-country skiing or even shooting at a biathlon.

The city is also home to the top division of Finland's Pelicans ice hockey club and FC Lahti football club . In 1997 the World Games were held in Lahti , a sports competition of non-Olympic sports.

Twin cities

Lahti is linked to through town twinning

sons and daughters of the town

The folk metal band Korpiklaani also comes from Lahti.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maanmittauslaitos (Finnish land surveying office): Suomen pinta-alat kunnittain January 1, 2010 . (PDF; 199 kB)
  2. ↑ Statistical Office Finland: Table 11ra - Key figures on population by region, 1990-2018
  3. ↑ http://www.lysator.liu.se/nordic/mirror/sa-int/hist.html
  4. ^ Thiemig, Karl: Finland , p. 172. Munich 1974
  5. ↑ Finnish Ministry of Justice: Results of the 2012 local elections , accessed on November 6, 2012
  6. ^ Official website of the city , accessed May 18, 2017

Web links

Commons : Lahti  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Lahti  - travel guide