Haparanda facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Haparanda
Haparanda railway station
Haparanda Location in Norrbotten Show map of Norrbotten Haparanda Location in Sweden Show map of Sweden
Country	Sweden
Province	Norrbotten
County	Norrbotten County
Municipality	Haparanda Municipality
Area
• Total	4.43 km2 (1.71 sq mi)
Population  (31 December 2010)
• Total	4,856
• Density	1,097/km2 (2,840/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Haparanda is a small town in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It's located right next to Tornio, a city in Finland. These two towns are so close they are often called "twin cities"!

Haparanda is special because it's at the very easternmost point of Sweden. It's also near the northern end of Sweden's coastline. Even though it's far north, Haparanda has warm summers. Its winters are usually not extremely cold.

Because it's so close to Finland, many people in Haparanda speak both Swedish and Finnish. Swedish is the main language, but Finnish is very common. In 2010, about 70% of people in Haparanda could speak Finnish.

Even though Haparanda is a small town, it's often still called a "city." This is for historical reasons. The whole area around the town is also sometimes called the "City of Haparanda."

A Look Back: Haparanda's History

Haparanda Hotel (left) and City Hall (right)

Haparanda's story began in 1809. At that time, Sweden gave Finland to Russia after a war. The new border between Sweden and Finland was drawn along the Tornio River.

The town of Tornio was on an island in this river. It became part of Finland. Many Swedish-speaking business people lived in Tornio. After the war, they started to build up a small village called Haaparanta (Haparanda) on the Swedish side of the border. This made Tornio become mostly Finnish-speaking. Haparanda officially became a market town in 1821 and a city in 1842.

In the early 1900s, Haparanda was very important for trade. Goods like timber and furs from northern Scandinavia and Russia came through here. They were then shipped to other parts of the world. During World War I, Haparanda was the only open railway crossing into Russia. Famous people, like Lenin, even passed through Haparanda when returning from exile.

Sports in Haparanda

Haparanda and Tornio have a combined team that plays bandy. Bandy is a sport similar to ice hockey, played on a large ice rink. Their team plays in the second-highest league in Sweden, called Allsvenskan. Haparanda also hosted some games for the Bandy World Championship 2001.

Other sports teams in Haparanda include:

• Asplöven HC (ice hockey)
• Haparanda FF (football)

Living on the Border: Sweden and Finland

Memorial at Haparanda for Finnish children evacuated to Sweden during World War II. The buildings on the right are in Tornio, Finland.

The towns of Haparanda and Tornio are very close. People often cross the border for work, shopping, or visiting friends and family. Many people in Haparanda speak both Swedish and Finnish. The two towns work together closely in business and daily life. They even call themselves "EuroCity."

One interesting thing is that Sweden and Finland are in different time zones. Haparanda is one hour behind Tornio. This means on New Year's Eve, people can celebrate the new year twice! They can celebrate in Tornio, then cross the border to Haparanda and celebrate again an hour later. Since 2005, the cities have even started using combined names: "Haparanda-Tornio" in Sweden and "Tornio-Haparanda" in Finland.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the close connection between the towns faced challenges. Sweden and Finland had different rules for dealing with the pandemic. This sometimes caused problems for people crossing the border.

Haparanda has a railway station. Passenger trains started running again in 2021 after being closed since 1992. This railway route was very important during World War I. It was the only way to travel between Russia and Germany. During World War II, about 80,000 Finnish children were sent to Sweden for safety. Many of them entered Sweden through Haparanda.

Karungi Overseas post sorting was set up in December 1914. Photo: Mia Green

During World War I, Haparanda was also a busy place for mail. About 27 million kilograms of mail, mostly from prisoners of war, was sorted here. Also, 75,000 prisoners of war were exchanged between countries at Haparanda.

Train Tracks: Different Sizes

The bridge over Torne River has tracks for both Swedish and Finnish trains.

Haparanda is connected to Sweden's national railway system. The bridge between Haparanda and Tornio is the only direct train link between Sweden and Finland. However, there's a special challenge: the train tracks in Sweden and Finland are different widths!

This means that when freight trains cross the border, their cargo has to be moved to different wagons. Or, the train's wheels (called bogies) have to be changed. The bridge between Haparanda and Tornio has a special track. It has four rails, allowing trains with both Swedish (1435 mm) and Finnish (1524 mm) track widths to use it.

Important Buildings in Haparanda

Haparanda Church, built in 1967

Haparanda has several interesting buildings. One of the most famous is the IKEA store. It opened in 2006 near the border. This IKEA is the northernmost IKEA store in the world! Even though prices are in Swedish money, the signs inside are in both Swedish and Finnish. This one store attracts about two million visitors every year. It has also led to other big shops and a shopping mall being built nearby.

Other important buildings include the old railway station, built in 1918. The Stadshotell (City Hotel) from 1900 used to be the town hall. It has a beautiful room with fancy chandeliers. There's also a unique water tower, built in 1920, which looks like a pepper pot. Haparanda's modern church was built in 1967 after the old one burned down.

There are also plans for a new building on the border. It will have a large arena for events and more shops. Construction for this started in 2016.

Haparanda's Climate

Haparanda has a subarctic climate. This means it's usually cold, but Haparanda's weather is often quite mild. The air from the North Atlantic Ocean helps keep winters from being too harsh. Summers are quite warm for a city so far north. This is because of the large land around the city and the short period of midnight sun. The midnight sun means the sun doesn't set for about 10 days in summer. During this time, it's bright enough to do things all day and night!

In winter, it's the opposite. Around the shortest day of the year, Haparanda only gets about 3 hours of daylight.

The average daytime temperature in summer is around 20°C (68°F). In winter, it's about -6°C (21°F).

Famous People from Haparanda

Several notable people have connections to Haparanda:

• Mia Green (died 1949): She was a photographer who took many pictures of Haparanda's history. She is also the great-grandmother of actress Eva Green.
• Pär Hulkoff (born 1980): He is the founder and lead singer of the band Raubtier.
• Tomas Johansson: A world champion in wrestling.
• Ida Karkiainen: She was a government minister in Sweden from 2021 to 2022.
• Sigrid Fridman: A well-known sculptor.

See also

In Spanish: Haparanda para niños