Vihti
| coat of arms | map |
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| Basic data | |
| State : |
 Finland
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| Landscape : | Uusimaa |
| Administrative community : | Helsinki |
| Geographical location | 60 ° 25 ′ N , 24 ° 20 ′ E |
| Surface: | 567.08 km² |
| of which land area: | 522.06 km² |
| of which inland waterways: | 45.02 km² |
| Residents : | 29,211 (Dec 31, 2018) |
| Population density : | 56 inhabitants / km² |
| Municipality number : | 927 |
| Language (s) : | Finnish |
| Website : | vihti.fi (English) |
Vihti [ ˈvihti ] ( Swedish Vichtis ) is a municipality in southern Finland about 50 kilometers northwest of the capital Helsinki .
geography
Vihti is located in the north of the southern Finnish landscape of Uusimaa . Neighboring towns and communities are Karkkila and Loppi in the north, Hyvinkää in the northeast, Nurmijärvi in the east, Espoo in the southeast, Kirkkonummi and Siuntio in the south and Lohja in the southwest. Helsinki is 49 kilometers southeast. Vihti belongs to the Helsinki region and is closely connected to the capital: 19.6 percent of the working population work in Helsinki, and another 19.7 percent in Espoo and Vantaa .
The municipality of Vihti has an area of 567.09 km², of which about 8 percent consists of inland waters. The church village of Vihti is located on the north shore of Lake Hiidenvesi, the Nummela community center is between the Hiidenvesi and Enäjärvi lakes . There are a total of 104 lakes in the municipality with a total bank length of 266 kilometers. In the south, Vihti has a share in the Nuuksio National Park , one of the few heather and forest areas in Uusimaa that are still relatively natural.
Vihti has four settlement centers. The largest town and administrative seat of the municipality is Nummela with around 11,400 inhabitants. In the church village Vihti, the historical center of the village, on the other hand, only about 3,500 people live. Other settlement centers are Ojakkala (1,300 inhabitants) and Otalampi (600 inhabitants). The remaining population of around 9100 lives in the rest of the municipality in the villages:
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history
Until the Middle Ages, the area of today's Vihti was a forest area with no settled people. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the population had settled and was concentrated on the banks of the waters until the 16th century. The church was founded in 1507, when the first known church lord, Mårthen, was appointed. Vihti had previously belonged to the Lohja parish ; the first known documentary mention comes from 1433.
The first settlement of Vihti consisted of aristocratic riding stables, i.e. agricultural farms exempt from tax, which in return provided knights for the royal army. Up to the 17th century, 44 of these farms were founded. Small farms were set up in the vicinity of the farms, of which there were 150 at the end of the 18th century. In 1749 Vihti had 1,403 inhabitants. In 1861, the parish had grown to over 5000 inhabitants, the chapel parish Pyhäjärvi, today's Karkkila , was separated from Vihti as an independent parish in the northwest of the parish. Nummela, now the largest town in the municipality, was only built around the new Nummela station after the completion of the railway line from Hyvinkää to Hanko in 1873.
The nationwide trend towards promoting popular education was first shown in Vihti when the community library was founded in 1851. The first elementary school for boys was opened in 1873 in the village of Ojakkala, the first girls' school in the church village the following year. The municipal administration was nominally separated from the church in 1867 and the political municipality Vihti was created. The first council did not meet until 1909. The agricultural structure of the community, previously characterized by large farms, began to change after the civil war in 1918, when the small leasehold farms , now over 400, were able to become independent. The large farm structure was finally dissolved after the Continuation War from 1944, when numerous refugees from the ceded areas in Karelia were settled in Vihti . In 1950 Vihti already had 11,003 inhabitants.
politics
In Vihti, the three major parties in Finland are roughly level. In the current municipal council, the conservative National Collection Party has twelve seats, the largest parliamentary group, closely followed by the Center Party with ten and the Social Democrats with nine seats. The Green Bund and the Left Alliance with three seats each as well as the right-wing populist True Finns , the Christian Democrats and the local electoral alliance “Party for Vihti” ( Vihdin Puolesta ) with one seat each are represented in the local council. Petri Härkönen is the local director of Vihti.
| Political party | 2008 election results | Seats |
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| National rally party | 25.0% | 12 |
| Center Party | 23.4% | 10 |
| Social democrats | 21.0% | 9 |
| Green covenant | 7.5% | 3 |
| Left alliance | 7.1% | 3 |
| True Finns | 5.2% | 2 |
| Christian Democrats | 5.1% | 2 |
| Vihdin Puolesta | 4.4% | 2 |
The municipal coat of arms designed by Gustaf von Numers was introduced in 1953 and shows “in the golden shield a fallen blue corrugated rafter that encloses a blue water wheel” . The wave rafter stands for Lake Hiidenvesi, the mill wheel for the historical importance of the sawmill industry in Vihti.
Vihti has partnerships with the Norwegian municipality of Sel , the Swedish city of Norrtälje , the municipality of Otepää in Estonia, the Danish town of Skælskor and the Japanese prefecture of Fukui .
Attractions
The parish church of Vihti, a cruciform church in brick construction, holds around 600 people and was completed in 1772 according to plans by Antti Piimänen. In 1818 it burned down completely after being struck by lightning; The altarpiece of Jesus in Gethsemane by Emanuel Thelning was also burned , and even the church bells melted. The reconstruction was completed in 1822 based on a design by the Italian architect Charles Bassi . During this time the church received its neoclassical interior, which is still characteristic today. In 1846 the church burned again after another lightning strike; The second altarpiece, Jesus' resurrection by Berndt Godenhjelm , survived the fire unscathed only because the sanctuary was being prepared at that time and the picture was being kept in the parish . The church was renovated in 1848, 1928–29, 1982 and 1985; the organ was renewed in 1990.
Next to the church are the ruins of the old church of St. Birgitta from the early 16th century. It had already become dilapidated in the 17th century; After the current parish church was consecrated, wood and building blocks of the old church were sold, so that today only a few remains of the wall can be seen.
Many well-preserved manors from the 18th and 19th centuries can be found in many of the municipality's villages, especially along the old highway from Helsinki to Pori. Many of these mansions as well as more modest leasehold farmhouses, farm buildings and village ensembles are protected as cultural landscapes. Of particular interest is the Vanjärvi estate, built in 1807 by Charles Bassi in the early Empire style.
Personalities
- Perttu Sirviö , winner of the first Finnish Big Brother season in 2005
- Merikukka Forsius , parliamentarian
- Jani Sievinen (* 1974), swimmer
- Esa Sievinen , sports coach
- Anssi Kela (* 1972), singer and composer
- Markus Selin , film producer
- Veikko Helle , MP 1951–1983
- Jari Sillanpää (* 1965), singer
- Ulla-Maija Aaltonen (1940–2009), writer
- Pauli Rantanen , inventor
- Janne Korpi (* 1986), snowboarder
- Sami Uotila (* 1976), ski racer
- Kim Wikström , ice hockey player
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maanmittauslaitos (Finnish land surveying office): Suomen pinta-alat kunnittain January 1, 2010 (PDF; 199 kB)
- ↑ Statistical Office Finland: Table 11ra - Key figures on population by region, 1990-2018
- ↑ Website of the community ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ↑ Website of the community ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ↑ Population figures according to the municipality's website ( memento of the original from January 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) 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. As of December 31, 2005.
- ↑ a b c Homepage of the community: Vihdin kunnan esittely - historia ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) 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 Ministry of Justice: Result of the 2008 local elections
- ↑ Vihdin vaakuna ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Kultakentässä aaltokoroinen, kaateinen polviorsi, jonka yläpuolella saatteena vesipyörä, molemmat siniset.
- ↑ Parish Vihti (Finnish)
