Finland, Turku

Turku is the oldest and fifth largest city in Finland, with a population of 175,354 it is the capital city of both the region of Finland Proper and the province of Western Finland, as well as being the centre of the country's third largest urban area, with around 300,000 inhabitants.

Turku has one of the largest Finland-Swedish populations in the country. Due to its location, the Port of Turku is one of the busiest seaports in Finland with around 3.7 million passengers per year.

Turku has a cultural identity as Finland's historical centre, as it was the largest city in the country for a very long time and has served as the second city of Swedish Empire when Finland was under its rule.Turku has been designated by the European Union to be the European Capital of Culture in the year 2011, together with Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

History

Turku has a long history as Finland's largest city and administrative centre, but has, over the last two centuries, given up both titles to Helsinki. To this day, the city's identity stems from its status as the oldest city in Finland and the country's former capital. Originally, the word 'Finland' referred only to the area around Turku (hence the title, 'Finland Proper' for the region).

In the 1960s and 1970s, Turku displayed unprecedented rates of growth, resulting in the construction of many new densely-inhabited suburbs such as Varissuo and Runosmäki, and the annexation of many neighbouring municipalities (eg. Maaria and Paattinen).

Geography

Located at the mouth of the Aura river in the southwestern corner of Finland, Turku covers an area of 245 km² (94 sq mi) of land, spread over both sides of the river. The eastern side, where the Cathedral of Turku is located, is popularly referred to as täl pual jokke ('this side of the river'), while the western side is referred to as tois pual jokke ('the other side of the river'). The city centre is located close to the river mouth, on both sides of the river, though development has recently been expanding westward.

With a population of approximately 300,000, the Turku Region (LAU 1) is the third largest urban region in Finland, after Greater Helsinki and the area around Tampere.

Economy

Turku is the central economic hub of southwestern Finland, and the capital of the Turku economic district. As of 2003, the district's per capita income was €24,022, higher than the national average of €23,780.

Education

Turku has a longer educational history than any other Finnish city  the first school in the city, the Cathedral School, was founded along with the Cathedral of Turku in the late 13th century.

Turku is one of only two cities in Finland to have an established international school (the other city being Helsinki).

Culture

Cultural venues in Turku include several theatres, cinemas, and art galleries, and a city philharmonic orchestra. 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, and 'Christmas Peace' in Finland is declared on every 24 December at the Cathedral of Turku.

Sports

As in most other Finnish cities, the most popular sport is ice hockey.Turku is the birthplace to a number of prominent National Hockey League players including Saku Koivu, Mikko Koivu, Miikka Kiprusoff, Sami Salo, Aki-Petteri Berg and Antero Niittymäki.

Football is also an important sport, and the city has two teams in the Veikkausliiga: FC Inter and TPS (which is part of the same organisation as the ice hockey team).

Transportation

For a city of its size, Turku has a good public transportation network of bus routes. It is managed and supervised by the City of Turku Public Transport Office, and is operated mainly by private companies.

Rail traffic to and from Turku is handled by the Finnish national carrier, VR. As with most other Finnish cities, railways were an important method of transportation in the first half of the 20th century, but have since seen a sharp fall in popularity.

Turku Airport is located eight kilometres to the north of the city centre, partly in the neighbouring municipality of Rusko. From there are daily connections to Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Helsinki. Since 2008 also Gdansk and Oulu.