Saarijärvi

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Saarijärven kaupunki
coat of arms map
Saarijärvi coat of arms Location of Saarijärvi in ​​Finland
Basic data
State : FinlandFinland Finland
Landscape : Central Finland
Administrative community : Saarijärvi-Viitasaari
Geographical location 62 ° 43 ′  N , 25 ° 16 ′  E Coordinates: 62 ° 43 ′  N , 25 ° 16 ′  E
Surface: 1,422.73 km²
of which land area: 1,251.94 km²
of which inland waterways: 170.79 km²
Residents : 9,415 (December 31, 2018)
Population density : 7.5 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number : 729
Language (s) : Finnish
Website : www.saarijarvi.fi

Saarijärvi [ ˈsɑːrijærvi ] is a town with 9415 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018) in central Finland . Saarijärvi is a rather spacious and rural town, in addition to agriculture, medium-sized companies in the metalworking and electronics industries are of economic importance.

geography

Saarijärvi is situated in the Lake District of the landscape of Central Finland 65 km north of Jyväskylä . Neighboring cities and municipalities are Äänekoski in the east, Uurainen in the south, Multia in the southwest, Soini and Karstula in the northwest and Kannonkoski in the north.

The center of Saarijärvi is located on an isthmus between two lakes: the eponymous Saarijärvi and the Pieni-Lumperoinen . The district of Saarijärvi is quite extensive with 1422.86 square kilometers; Lakes and rivers make up around 12 percent of the municipal area.

In the northeast of the municipality is the 12 square kilometer Pyhä-Häkki National Park with some of the last primeval forests in Central Finland and extensive moorland.

history

The first humans reached the area of ​​Saarijärvi after the end of the last ice age around 8000 years ago. In the Middle Ages the Hämeer used the area as a hunting ground. A sedentary settlement did not emerge until the middle of the 16th century in the course of internal colonization under King Gustav Wasa . The first settlers were partly Hämeer, but mostly farmers from Savo . In 1560 Saarijärvi had only 13 houses, four years later already 34. Initially the farming settlements belonged to the large community of Sysmä , then in 1561 to the large community of Rautalampi, which was separated from Sysmä that year . In 1628 Saarijärvi became a chapel parish of the Sock Rautalampi, in 1639 it was raised to an independent parish under the name Palvasalmi , expanded to include some areas of the parishes of Laukaa and Ruovesi . The name Saarijärvi (in German "Inselsee") came into use around 1690.

During the Great Northern War , the parish's villages were badly devastated. In 1714, Russian troops burned down the town's church and parish, in the village of Lännevesi only three houses survived the war. For centuries, agriculture was the main occupation of the inhabitants, initially barley and from the 18th century mainly rye. More and more fields were created by means of slash and burn . In addition, tar distillery gained in importance, followed by forestry and dairy industries in the 19th century.

Saarijärvi has existed as a political municipality since 1866. Subsequently, the places Karstula (1867), Uurainen (1868) and Pylkönmäki (1914) were separated from the larger municipality of Saarijärvi as independent municipalities; Saarijärvi lost other areas to the city of Äänekoski . Saarijärvi has had city rights since 1986. At the beginning of 2009, the municipality Pylkönmäki was incorporated into Saarijärvi again.

Around 1870 the population of Saarijärvi was 14,404 people. Like many rural regions in Finland, Saarijärvi has seen a significant population decline for decades. In the last ten years alone, the population has decreased by more than 700 people, i.e. more than 7 percent.

politics

As in most rural areas in Finland, the Center Party is the strongest party in Saarijärvi . In the local elections in 2008 and the parliamentary elections in 2007, she received around half of the votes. In the city council, the highest decision-making body in local affairs, it has 17 of 35 deputies. The second largest group are the Social Democrats with nine seats, followed by the conservative National Assembly Party , which has four seats. The Green Bund won two mandates, the Left Alliance , the Christian Democrats and the right-wing populist grassroots fins one each.

Composition of the City Council (2009–2012)
Political party 2008 election results Seats
Center Party 46.1% 17th
Social democrats 24.2% 9
National rally party 12.3% 4th
Green covenant 5.9% 2
Left alliance 5.0% 1
Base fins 3.4% 1
Christian Democrats 3.1% 1

Saarijärvi maintains city partnerships with the Norwegian municipality of Gran , the Danish towns of Hadsten and Hinnerup , the Swedish city of Kungsbacka , the German office of Trittau and the French administrative community Loire-Divatte .

Culture and sights

Saarijärvi Church

The Evangelical Lutheran parish church of Saarijärvi was built in wood from 1846–49 under the direction of Jaakko Heikinpoika Kuorikoski based on a drawing by Carl Ludwig Engel . After the churches built in 1628 and 1694 and then demolished for lack of space, it is already the third church building at this point. The floor plan is a cruciform church, but its shape is dominated by the dome crowned by a lantern that spans the crossing . With a diameter of 18 meters, it is probably the largest wooden dome in Finland. The furnishings are quite opulent by Finnish-Protestant standards and also influenced by 19th century classicism. The two altarpieces by Johan N. Backmann are from the previous building; they are dated to 1756. The free-standing bell tower was also built by Kuorikoski in 1865; However, Engel did not include a tower in his drawing.

In the villages of Saarijärvi there are still ensembles of farmhouses from the 18th and 19th centuries, which are now registered as a cultural landscape in the Finnish monument protection register. In the village of Kolkanlahti there is a retirement home founded in 1780. The main building, built around 1800, houses a room in which Johan Ludvig Runeberg lived in the 1820s when he was a teacher in Saarijärvi. One of Runeberg's best-known poems is Bonden Paavo (“The Farmer Paavo”) , which appeared in the Dikter Collection (1830 ). In it, Runeberg describes a farmer from Saarijärvi who defies all adversities in times of hunger, thus creating the national romantic ideal of the hard-working, pious and loving Finnish farmer. A statue in front of the Saarijärvi church commemorates the “Paavo from Saarijärvi”, who embodies the Finnish national virtue , Sisu .

The Puuhapuisto Veijari adventure park has been located northeast of the center on the road to Kokkola since 1988 and is particularly popular with families in the summer, including a petting zoo, aquariums, bouncy castles, pedal boats, miniature golf and a trout pond for recreational anglers. A small campsite is attached to the park.

Of tourist interest is an open-air museum on Summassaari Island, which illustrates life in a Stone Age village.

Sons and daughters

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maanmittauslaitos (Finnish land surveying office): Suomen pinta-alat kunnittain January 1, 2011 (PDF; 199 kB)
  2. ↑ Statistical Office Finland: Table 11ra - Key figures on population by region, 1990-2018
  3. ↑ Finnish Ministry of Justice: Result of the 2008 local elections
  4. ↑ Högt bland Saarijärvis moar original text on Wikisource