Jyväskylä facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jyväskylä
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City
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| Jyväskylän kaupunki Jyväskylä stad City of Jyväskylä |
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Clockwise from top-left: Lutakko Square, Äijälänsalmi Strait, apartments in Lutakko, a courtyard in downtown Jyväskylä, the Jyväskylä City Church, and the old power station of Vaajakoski
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| Nickname(s):
Athens of Finland
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Location of Jyväskylä in Finland
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| Country | Finland | |
| Region |  Central Finland |
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| Sub-region | Jyväskylä sub-region | |
| Charter | 1837 | |
| Area
(2009)
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| • City | 1,466.48 km2 (566.21 sq mi) | |
| • Land | 1,171.23 km2 (452.21 sq mi) | |
| • Water | 295.25 km2 (114.00 sq mi) | |
| • Urban | 99.25 km2 (38.32 sq mi) | |
| Area rank | 66th largest in Finland | |
| Population
(2013)
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| • City | 133,420 | |
| • Rank | 9th largest in Finland | |
| • Density | 113.91/km2 (295.0/sq mi) | |
| • Urban | 117,974 | |
| • Urban density | 1,188.7/km2 (3,079/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) | |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) | |
| Website | www.jyvaskyla.fi | |
Jyväskylä is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland, some 130 km north-east from Tampere. It is the largest city in the region of Central Finland and on the Finnish Lakeland.
Elias Lönnrot, the compiler of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, gave the city the nickname "Athens of Finland". This nickname refers to the major role of Jyväskylä as an educational centre.
The works of the most famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto can be seen throughout the city. The city hosts the Neste Oil Rally Finland, which is part of the World Rally Championship. It is also home of the annual Jyväskylä Arts Festival.
The city has been one of the fastest growing cities in Finland during the 20th century.
History
In the Jyväskylä region, there are archeological findings from the Stone Age. According to the oldest available documents, there were seven estates on the Jyväskylä region in 1539. The oldest estate in Jyväskylä continuously held by the same family is the estate of Lahti, which emerged when the estate of Mattila was split between two brothers in 1600. The history of the estate of Lahti and the family of Lahti have had a significant impact on the development of Jyväskylä region. Lahdenrinne, in the south-west corner of Jyväsjärvi lake, belongs to the old heartland of the estate of Lahti.
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The City of Jyväskylä was founded on 22 March 1837, when Emperor of Russia and Grand Duke of Finland, Nicholas I of Russia, signed the charter of the city and the infrastructure was essentially built from scratch. At the times Finnish military battalion Suomen kaarti participated under his rule in military operations against the Polish November Uprising and later in Hungary, Turkey and Bessarabia (today Moldova). The original town was built between Lake Jyväsjärvi and the Jyväskylä ridge, and consisted of most of the current grid-style city centre.
The establishment of schools in the 1850s and 1860s proved to be the most significant step in regards to the later development of Jyväskylä. The first three Finnish-speaking schools in the world were founded in Jyväskylä, the lycée in 1858, the teachers’ college in 1863, and the girls’ school in 1864. Well-trained teaching staff and pupils from different parts of the country made the atmosphere of Jyväskylä irreplaceable.
Jyväskylä hosts the headquarters of Finnish Air Force, in Tikkakoski. As a central location, it has traditionally been important base for military operations. Jyväskylä was also known as major firearms manufacturer (Tikkakoski) during the world wars, producing machine guns and ammunition.
According to reporting in Helsingin Sanomat, since the 1990s Jyväskylä has served as a signals intelligence collection site, primarily targeting military maneuvers around St. Petersburg.
Economy
Because of excellent connections, Jyväskylä was a busy marketplace even before the first permanent settlements were founded in the current city centre. The establishment of Finland’s first three Finnish-speaking schools proved to be the most significant steps in regards to later development of Jyväskylä. Educational services became the heart of the economic growth of the city.
In 1912 Wilhelm Schauman founded a plywood mill on the shores of Jyväsjärvi. Soon other kinds of forest based businesses opened factories and premises in the city. Thus, lumber, pulp, and paper became the second stronghold of the economy in Jyväskylä. Later, the high quality education and paper machinery industry tempted information technology businesses to settle in the city.
Nowadays, the main sources of livelihood in Jyväskylä are educational and health care services, paper machinery production, information technology, and renewable energy. The biggest public employers are the City of Jyväskylä, the Central Finland Health Care District, the University of Jyväskylä, and the Air Force Academy.
Museums
The Alvar Aalto Museum and the Museum of Central Finland form a center of culture in the immediate vicinity of the historical campus of the University of Jyväskylä. Both museums are designed by Alvar Aalto. The Alvar Aalto Museum displays the artist's most important work and design. The Museum of Central Finland specializes in cultural history. It serves both as the town museum of Jyväskylä and the provincial museum of Central Finland.
The city hosts the Craft Museum of Finland, which presents a range of different handicraft techniques from across the country, as well as a centre dedicated to the conservation of textiles that serves private customers, museums and organisations. The National Costume Center of Finland forms a part of the museum.
The Aviation Museum of Central Finland near the Jyväskylä Airport in Tikkakoski exhibits the aviation history of Finland.
The University of Jyväskylä Museum is specialized in the history of the University and diversity of nature in Central Finland.
Jyväskylä Art Museum, located the city centre is the regional art museum of Central Finland. In collaboration with the Centre for Creative Photography, the Jyväskylä Art Museum maintains The Ratamo Printmaking and Photography Centre. This centre consists of the Galleria Ratamo along with a printmaking workshop, photography studio and artist workspaces all situated in Jyväskylä’s former roundhouse.
In addition, historical churches in the city are open for public, most notables of them being the Taulumäki Church and the Jyväskylä City Church.
Annual events
- Arctic and Fabulous Film Festival offers different forms and genres of Nordic film in the middle of most freezing winter season in February.
- Jyväskylä City's Birthday Week (last week of March) offers a number of concerts, theatre, exhibitions and debates around the city.
- Jyrock in April is an indie and alternative rock and pop festival.
- Lutakko liekeissä in August is a rock festival held in rock club Tanssisali Lutakko.
- Yläkaupungin Yö in May is one of the biggest annual street festivals of the city.
- Sataman Yö is an annual pop music festival organised one week before the midsummer in the harbour of Jyväskylä.
- Jyväskylä Arts Festival in the middle of July accommodates musicians, bands, contemporary circus, comedians, mimes, physical theatre, storytellers and film makers. It is one of the most well known festivals in Finland.
- Neste Oil Rally Finland in the end of July is the biggest annually organised event in Nordic countries and a part of the WRC World Rally Championships.
- Athenis Finlandiae organised in August is a cultural festival combining elements from ancient history, arts and science.
- Finlandia Marathon in the beginning of September is a marathon festival designed for everybody from a top athlete to an amateur jogger.
- The International Print Triennial Graphica Creativa is organised every three years since 1975. It was the very first international graphic art exhibition in Finland.
Sports
The city hosts the Neste Oil Rally Finland (formerly known as the 1000 Lakes Rally). It is the biggest annually organised public event in the Nordic countries, gathering over 500,000 spectators every year. The rally has been held since 1951, first as a national competition, then from 1959 on as a European Rally Championship event and since the introduction of the World Rally Championship in 1973, as Finland's WRC event.
Ice hockey venue Synergia-areena, Hippos Finnish baseball stadium, swimming hall AaltoAlvari, and many other primary sport venues of the city are located in Hippos, two kilometres (1.2 miles) away from the city centre. The Matti Nykänen ski jumping hill is located next to the Laajavuori ski resort just few kilometres west from the city centre.
The main football stadium lies on the slopes of Harju just next to the city centre. The Killeri hippodrome on the western parts of the city serves different horse racing competitions. At winter time, amateur ice skaters can practice their skills in Viitaniemi or on the lake Jyväsjärvi, which has a 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long ice skating track.
The inventor of Finnish national sport pesäpallo, Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala, studied and lived in Jyväskylä. The Upper secondary school of Jyväskylän Lyseo hosted the historic event of first pesäpallo match in world in September 1920.
Images for kids
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Jyväskylä town square in the early 20th century
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Kirkkopuisto Park in the early 20th century
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Palokkajärvi two kilometres (1.2 miles) north from the city center is one of the numerous lakes in Jyväskylä.
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A pedestrian street downtown
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Jyväskylä is a hub of IT. Innova Tower hosts multiple tech companies.
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J. Kärkkäinen discount store in Jyväskylä
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Functionalistic Säynätsalo Town Hall by Alvar Aalto is open also for visitors interested in his architecture.
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A German biplane Stieglitz in the Aviation Museum of Central Finland
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Petter Solberg on the Killeri super special stage of the Rally Finland
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Eino Kaakkolahti passing during a pesäpallo (Finnish baseball) match in 1958
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Synergia-areena is the main ice hockey venue.
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Killeri harness racing track
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Jyväskylän Seudun Palloseura won the national bandy title in 2019. Here in the 2014 final.
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The downtown, as seen from Harju
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S81 passing Pumperinmäki at Jyväskylä. Jyväskylä is in the crossroads of main road and railway networks.
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University of Jyväskylä Ylistönrinne Campus
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Main building of the University of Jyväskylä designed by Alvar Aalto
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The Stavanger Park, close to the city center, is named after Jyväskylä's Norwegian twin city Stavanger.
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See also
In Spanish: Jyväskylä para niños
