Puolanka

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Puolangan kunta
coat of arms map
Puolanka coat of arms Location of Puolanka in Finland
Basic data
State : FinlandFinland Finland
Landscape : Kainuu
Administrative community : Kehys-Kainuu
Geographical location 64 ° 52 ′  N , 27 ° 40 ′  E Coordinates: 64 ° 52 ′  N , 27 ° 40 ′  E
Surface: 2,598.93 km²
of which land area: 2,461.75 km²
of which inland waterways: 137.18 km²
Residents : 2,597 (Dec. 31, 2018)
Population density : 1.1 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number : 620
Language (s) : Finnish
Website : puolanka.fi

Puolanka [ ˈpuɔlɑŋkɑ ] ( Swedish historically Puolango ) is a municipality in northeastern Finland . It is located around 125 kilometers northeast of Oulu .

The extremely sparsely populated municipality is mostly covered by forests and swamps, in which a few small settlements are lost: Aittokylä, Askankylä, Auho, Joukokylä, Kivarinjärvi, Kotila, Lylykylä, Puokio, Puolanka, Rasi, Suolijärvi, Väyrylä and Yli-Oterma. They have all been affected by massive rural exodus for decades and are visibly aging. In January 2007 the municipality had the third highest unemployment rate of all Finnish municipalities at 21.5 percent.

Originally the area of ​​the municipality belonged to the parish of Paltamo . In 1764 a chapel congregation was founded, which in 1786 was subordinated to the Hyrynsalmi parish . The construction of the chapel was initially delayed because there were disputes about its location. Ultimately, the church was built in 1792 on the shores of Lake Puolankajärvi . After this, the entire chapel community was given the name Puolanka, which originally means "clearing". In 1867 Puolanka was raised to an independent municipality.

Among the sights of the forest and lake landscape is the Hepoköngäs , the highest waterfall in Finland at 24 meters, as well as the Kalliuskoski rapids , which the Kiiminkijoki flows through after its outflow from Lake Kivarinjärvi. The Church of Puolanka is one of Olavi Sortta designed functionalist building of brick and wood. The tower-free building has a rectangular floor plan and a steep pitched roof and thus draws on the formal language of the medieval Finnish stone churches . The current church replaced an old wooden church that burned down after being struck by lightning in 1949.

  • Puolanka Community Center

  • Puolanka Church

  • Lakeland at Kalhamajärvi

Trivia

The place achieved greater awareness through press reports about the pessimist association founded in Puolanka in 2006 and its activities.

Web links

Commons : Puolanka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References

  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. ↑ Kuntalehti: Työvoiman riittävyys mielenkiinnon kohteeksi , March 7, 2007 ( memento of the original from September 30, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Finnish) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kuntalehti.fi
  4. ↑ Saila Huusko: The most pessimistic town in the world , BBC Reel , November 1, 2019
  5. ↑ Jens Mattern: Puolanka, the most pessimistic village in Finland , Kronen Zeitung , December 31, 2019
  6. ↑ Chloe Shantz-Hilkes: As It Happens: Why pessimists in Finland are embracing their town's reputation as 'the worst' , CBC / Radio-Canada , November 19, 2019