Lappeenranta
—  City  —
Lappeenrannan kaupunki
Lappeenranta harbour
Coat of arms
Location of Lappeenranta in Finland
Coordinates: 61°04′N 028°11′E / 61.067°N 28.183°E / 61.067; 28.183Coordinates: 61°04′N 028°11′E / 61.067°N 28.183°E / 61.067; 28.183
Country	Finland
Region	South Karelia
Sub-region	Lappeenranta sub-region
Charter	1649
Government
• City manager	Kimmo Jarva
Area(2011-01-01)[1]
• Total	1,723.50 km2 (665.45 sq mi)
• Land	1,433.36 km2 (553.42 sq mi)
• Water	290.14 km2 (112.02 sq mi)
Area rank	56th largest in Finland
Population (2012-01-31)[2]
• Total	72,156
• Rank	13th largest in Finland
• Density	50.34/km2 (130.4/sq mi)
Population by native language[3]
• Finnish	95.9% (official)
• Swedish	0.1%
• Others	4%
Population by age[4]
• 0 to 14	15.1%
• 15 to 64	67%
• 65 or older	17.9%
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5]	19.5%
Urbanisation	90.4%
Unemployment rate	14.7%
Website	www.lappeenranta.fi

Lappeenranta (Swedish: Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality that resides on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Russian border. It belongs to the region of South Karelia. With approximately 72,000 inhabitants (31 January 2012) Lappeenranta is the 13th largest city in Finland.^[2] The neighboring municipality of Joutseno was consolidated with Lappeenranta on January 1, 2009, and the neighboring municipality of Ylämaa on January 1, 2010.

History[link]

Lappeenranta was originally formed around a headland pointing to lake Saimaa. In the 16th century, the market place moved from Lappee's old centre Kauskila to the current fortress headland. The first mention of Lapwes, as it was called, is in a privilege charter from 1542 that subjugated the market place under Viborg's authority.

The town was chartered in 1649 by Queen Christina of Sweden, legitimizing the trade in the then popular marketplace of Lapvesi. However, the parliamentary privilege charter and the coat of arms were attested in 1652 after the town layout by Erik Aspegren was affirmed. At the time, Lappeenranta was an important port for tar.

Between 1721 and 1743, Lappeenranta was the capital of Kymmenegård and Savonlinna province.

In 1741, the battle of Villmanstrand was fought between the Swedish and Russian armies in the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743. The battle ended in a Russian victory. The town was pillaged, wooden structures including the provincial chancellery were burnt and the ecclesiastical archives damaged.

The municipality of Lappee was annexed to Lappeenranta in 1967. Nuijamaa joined in 1989. During the financial downturn of 2009 and 2010, Joutseno and Ylämaa respectively merged into Lappeenranta.

Name[link]

The name Lappeenranta consists of the genitive of Lappee and the appellative ranta which means "shore". The history of Lappeenranta includes the rural municipality of Lappee and the hundred Lapvesi. The Swedish name Villmanstrand contains the words vildman meaning "wildman" and strand also meaning "shore". The wildman is depicted on Lappeenranta's coat of arms.

Services[link]

Education[link]

Lappeenranta has numerous schools at almost all levels of education, including the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Saimaa University of Applied Sciences, the Army Academy (branch of the Finnish Defence Forces), South Karelia Vocational College and South Karelia Adult Education Centre.

Transport[link]

Lappeenranta is connected to neighbouring cities and municipalities by road, with railways heading north and south from the city.

During the summer, when Lake Saimaa and Saimaa Canal are accessible by water, there is a connection by ship from Lappeenranta to Vyborg, Russia.

There is also an international airport in Lappeenranta. Thanks to scheduled flights between Lappeenranta, Weeze and Riga, the metropolises of Europe are within easy reach. Lappeenranta Airport is Finland's fastest growing international airport with 364% growth in passenger numbers in 2010. Making a business or leisure trip to Brussels or London from Lappeenranta is no problem, especially after a direct route to Brussels-Charleroi opened in November 2010. Traffic Connections: Daily flights between Lappeenranta and Riga. Scheduled flights to Brussels (Charleroi), and Weeze. RyanAir will begin to fly to Milano (Bergamo) on 30 March 2011 and the flights are already being sold.

Express train connections: to Helsinki in about 2 hours, and to St. Petersburg in about 1.5 hours on the new Allegro train.

Economy[link]

The city's main employers are the City of Lappeenranta, UPM-Kymmene, South Karelia Central Hospital, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Paroc, Nordkalk, VR Group, Fazer, The Armed Forces and Outotec.^[6]

Sports[link]

Finland-Norway at the 2004 Women's World Championships

Lappeenranta has multiple sports teams playing in top levels of Finnish sports leagues.

SaiPa is an ice hockey team playing in the highest level in Finland, SM-liiga.

Lappeenrannan NMKY is a basketball team playing in the highest level in Korisliiga and have won two championships in 2005 and 2006.

NST plays floorball in the Salibandyliiga and Rajaritarit is an American Football team in the Vaahteraliiga.

Lappeenrannan Veiterä, or just Veiterä, plays in Bandyliiga and has been Finnish champions four times. They are the current champions for women and for girls born in 1995 and 1998.^[7] The city hosted the first ever Bandy World Championships for women in 2004.

In women's sports Catz Lappeenranta plays basketball and Pesä Ysit plays Finnish baseball, both in the top leagues of the nation.

Notable people[link]

• Maiju Kujala - Female Professional MMA Fighter.
• Antti Aalto – Former Ice-hockey player.
• Koop Arponen – singer and winner of the fourth series of the Idols in 2008.
• Arto Bryggare – Former hurdling athlete, Former member of Parliament of Finland.
• Kaarlo Halttunen – Former actor.
• Heikki Hietamies – Reporter, TV-host, novelist and a comedian.
• Heini – bass player of the band Indica.
• Laila Hirvisaari (formerly Laila Hietamies) – novelist, has written a novel series about Lappeenranta and its people.
• Horna – legendary Finnish black metal band.
• Kari Jormakka – distinguished Professor of Architecture Theory at Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.
• Anneli Kiljunen – Member of Parliament of Finland.
• Anssi Kippo – A Platinum selling producer.
• Kotiteollisuus – popular hard rock band.
• Arvi Lind – legendary Finnish TV news reader.
• Eeva Litmanen – Award winning actor.
• Pave Maijanen – Famous musician.
• Miikka Multaharju – Football player.
• Esa Niiva – saxophonist for several Finnish bands
• Jarmo Nikku – songwriter
• Jukka Paarma – former Archbishop of Turku and Finland
• Tiia Piili – the most successful gymnast in Finland
• Saku Puhakainen – football player
• Päiviö Pyysalo – TV director and producer
• Aki Pyysing – professional poker player
• Ilona Ranta – hurdler and sprinter
• Satanic Warmaster – Legendary Finnish black metal band
• Petri Skriko – retired ice-hockey player in the NHL in USA
• Kirsi Ståhlberg – singer and actor. Appears on Finnish soap opera Salatut Elämät
• Juha Tiainen – former Olympic gold medallist in hammer throw
• Mokoma – thrash metal band
• Battlelore - symphonic metal band
• Hanna Pakarinen – the first Idols winner in Finland came from Lappeenranta
• Christian Ruuttu – former ice hockey player in the NHL in USA
• Vesa Vierikko – Finnish actor
• Vesa Viitakoski – former ice hockey player in SM-liiga.

Tourism[link]

Autumn in Lappeenranta

Lappeenranta is known as a summer city, mostly due to its closeness to the Lake Saimaa. In addition, its inland location means that summers tend to be warmer and winters colder than along the coastal areas.

Lappeenranta, however, does have a healthy winter tourism industry. Various cabins around Lake Saimaa, as well as numerous snowmobile, skiing and sledding tracks draw a fair number of winter visitors.

The proximity of the Russian border is increasingly visible in the number of Russian tourists visiting the city. In fact, Lappeenranta is closer (211 km/131 mi) to Saint Petersburg than Helsinki, the capital of Finland (383 km/238 mi). The presence of Russians is noticeable by the many Russian registered cars on the streets and the use of signs in shops with Cyrillic letters.

Places and events

• The old fortress, with a number of museums, cafés and the oldest Russian Orthodox church in Finland.
• The harbour area, with cruises to Vyborg and the nearby Saimaa Canal.
• The central market place, where you can enjoy the local specialities, such as meat pies known as "Atomi" (atom) or "Vety" (hydrogen).
• The Night of The Fort, a two-day cultural festival held in early August.
• The Lappeenranta Ballet Gala in late August.^[8]
• The annual Lappeenranta National Singing Contest.
• The biggest sand castle in Finland is built next to Port of Lappeenranta every summer.^[9]
• There are two private cinema theatres in Lappeenranta: Kino-Aula and Nuijamies.

International relations[link]

Twin towns – Sister cities[link]

Lappeenranta is twinned with:

• Rakvere, Estonia
• Stykkishólmur, Iceland
• Drammen, Norway
• Örebro, Sweden
• Kolding, Denmark
• Klin, Russia
• Vyborg, Russia
• Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
• Szombathely, Hungary
• Lake Worth, United States

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lappeenranta

• City of Lappeenranta – Official site
• Lappeenranta travel guide from Wikitravel
• Satellite Image of Lappeenranta at Google Maps
• Detailed aerial photography of Lappeenranta (click on "ilmakuva"). Much more detailed than Google's equivalent service.
• goSaimaa.fi – travel information about Lappeenranta

Picture gallery[link]

• 

  Lappeenranta harbour

• 

  Town Hall

• 

  Lappeenranta University of Technology

• 

  Kauppakatu street

• 

  Memorial at Lappeenranta to the dead of the Winter and Continuation Wars

• 

  Port of Lappeenranta by day

v t e Municipalities of South Karelia Municipalities Imatra Lappeenranta Lemi Luumäki Parikkala Rautjärvi Ruokolahti Savitaipale Suomenniemi Taipalsaari Former municipalities Joutseno Lappee Lauritsala Nuijamaa Saari Simpele Uukuniemi Ylämaa South Karelia Finland