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Lahti is a city
List of cities and towns in Finland

This is a 'list of towns in Finland'. In the year 1977 the juridical difference between cities, towns and Municipalities of Finland were removed. Today only municipalities are recognized, some of which are commonly referred to as towns ....
 and municipality
Municipalities of Finland

||-||}The municipalities represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental administrative units of the country....
 in Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
.

It is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region
Päijänne Tavastia

P?ij?nne Tavastia is a Regions of Finland in Southern Finland south of the lake P?ij?nne. It borders the regions Uusimaa ,Tavastia Proper, Pirkanmaa, central Finland, Southern Savonia, Kymenlaakso, and Eastern Uusimaa....
 located in the province of Southern Finland
Southern Finland

The Province of Southern Finland is a Provinces of Finland of Finland. It borders the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also borders the Gulf of Finland and Russia....
. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki
Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
. In English, the Finnish word Lahti literally means bay and Vesijärvi means water lake.

The symbol of the city depicts a train wheel surrounded by sparkling flames.

History
Lahti was first mentioned in documents in 1445.






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Encyclopedia


Lahti is a city
List of cities and towns in Finland

This is a 'list of towns in Finland'. In the year 1977 the juridical difference between cities, towns and Municipalities of Finland were removed. Today only municipalities are recognized, some of which are commonly referred to as towns ....
 and municipality
Municipalities of Finland

||-||}The municipalities represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental administrative units of the country....
 in Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
.

It is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region
Päijänne Tavastia

P?ij?nne Tavastia is a Regions of Finland in Southern Finland south of the lake P?ij?nne. It borders the regions Uusimaa ,Tavastia Proper, Pirkanmaa, central Finland, Southern Savonia, Kymenlaakso, and Eastern Uusimaa....
 located in the province of Southern Finland
Southern Finland

The Province of Southern Finland is a Provinces of Finland of Finland. It borders the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also borders the Gulf of Finland and Russia....
. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki
Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
. In English, the Finnish word Lahti literally means bay and Vesijärvi means water lake.

The symbol of the city depicts a train wheel surrounded by sparkling flames.

History


Lahti was first mentioned in documents in 1445. The village belonged to the parish
Parish

A parish is a local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican, United Methodist, and Presbyterianism churches....
 of Hollola
Hollola

Hollola is a municipalities of Finland of Finland.It is located in the provinces of Finland of Southern Finland and is part of the P?ij?nne Tavastia regions of Finland....
 and was located at the medieval trade route of Ylinen Viipurintie, which linked the towns of Hämeenlinna
Hämeenlinna

H?meenlinna is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia in the south of Finland....
 and Vyborg
Vyborg

Vyborg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, 130 km to the northwest of Saint Petersburg, 38 km south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland....
.

The completion of the Riihimäki – St. Petersburg railway line
Riihimäki-Saint Petersburg railroad

The Riihim?ki?Saint Petersburg Railway is a long segment of the Helsinki Central railway station?Saint Petersburg connection, which is divided between Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast in Russia and the province of Southern Finland in Finland....
 in 1870 and the Vesijärvi canal in 1871 turned Lahti into a lively station, and industrial installations began to spring up around it. For a long time, the railway station at Vesijärvi Harbour was the second busiest station in Finland. Craftsmen, merchants, a few civil servants and a lot of industrial workers soon mixed in with the existing agricultural peasantry.

On 19 June 1877, almost the entire village was burned to the ground. However, the accident proved to be a stroke of luck for the development of the place, as it led to the authorities resuming their deliberations about establishing a town in Lahti. The village was granted market town
Market town

Market town or market right is a law term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host Market, distinguishing them from villages and city....
 rights in 1878 and an empire-style, grid town plan was approved, which included a large market square and wide boulevards
Boulevard

Boulevard has several generally accepted meanings. It was first introduced in the French language in 1435 as boloard and has since been altered into boulevard....
. This grid plan still forms the basis of the city center. Most of the buildings were low wooden houses bordering the streets.

Lahti was founded during a period of severe economic recession. The Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
 was encumbered by the war against Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
. The recession also slowed down the building of the township: land would not sell and often plots were not built on for some time. In its early years, the town with its meagre 200 inhabitants was too small to provide and kind of foundation for trade. At the end of the 1890s, Lahti’s Township Board increased its efforts to enable Lahti to be turned into a city. In spring 1904, the efforts finally bore fruit as the Senate
Governing Senate

The Governing Senate was a legislative, judicial, and executive body of Tsar, instated by Peter I of Russia to replace the Duma and lasted until the very end of the Russian Empire....
 approved of the application, although it was another eighteen months before Tsar Nicholas II finally gave his blessing and issued an ordinance for establishing the city of Lahti.

At the end of 1905, the area that now comprises Lahti accommodated around 8,200 people of whom just under 3,000 lived in the city itself. All essential municipal institutions were built in just ten years, including a hospital and a city hall. At the same time, a rapid increase in brick houses was taking place in the centre of the city.

In the early 1920s the city gained possession of the grounds of the Lahti Manor, an important piece of land previously blocking the city from the lake. Large-scale industrial operations grew rapidly in the 1930s as did the population; Lahti, at the time, was one of Finland’s fastest-growing cities, and before the start of the Winter War
Winter War

The Winter War or the Soviet-Finnish War began when the Soviet Union attacked Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the invasion of Poland by Germany that started World War II....
 its population was approaching 30,000.

Through the addition of new areas in 1924, 1933 and 1956, Lahti grew, both in terms of population and surface area. Especially strong was the growth after the wars, when Lahti accepted about 10,000 immigrants from Karelia
Karelia

Karelia , the land of the Karelians, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden. It is currently divided between the Russian Republic of Karelia, the Russian Leningrad Oblast, and Finland ....
, after the region was surrendered to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
, and then later in the 1960 and 70's as a result of mass urbanization. The population growth came to a sharp end in 1975 and the city has since grown very little.

Culture


Lahti harbors cultural ambitions, and recent years saw the building of a large congress and concert center, the Sibelius Hall
Sibelius Hall

The 'Sibelius Hall' is a concert hall in Lahti, Finland, named after the composer Jean Sibelius. The concert hall was completed in 2000....
. This has sparked much controversy amongst the population, many of whom feel that the money used for these purposes would be better spent on health care
Health care

File:Ear surgery on a patient.jpgFile:Monoclonal antibodies3.jpgHealth care, or healthcare, refers to the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the Medicine, pharmaceutical, Dentistry, clinical laboratory sciences , nursing, and allied health professions....
 and education
Education

File:Inukshuk Monterrey 1.jpgEducation can be seen as a product or a process and considered in a broad sense or a technical sense. According to philosophy of education George F....
. Lahti has perhaps the best known symphony orchestra in Finland, Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Lahti Symphony Orchestra

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra is a Finland orchestra, based in the city of Lahti. It was founded in 1910 and placed under the control of the Lahti municipality in 1949....
 (Sinfonia Lahti). It concentrates on Sibelius
Jean Sibelius

Johan Julius Christian Sibelius was a Finland composer of the later Romantic music whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity....
's music.

Lahti’s annual music festival programme includes such events as Lahti Organ Festival, Jazz at the market place and Sibelius Festival.

Sports


Lahti is best known for its annually held World Cup winter games, the Lahti Ski Games (Salpausselän kisat). Ski jumping events of Lahti Ski Games are part of the Nordic Tournament
Nordic Tournament

The Nordic Tournament is an annual ski jumping tournament that is a part of the International Ski Federation Ski Jumping World Cup. The tournament started in 1997 as a counterpart to the widely successful Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria....
.

The city endeavors for achievements in sport
Sport

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of regulation of sport or traditions and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome , but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports and motor...
, which has led to such things as the hosting of a World Games
World Games

The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The World Games are organised and governed by the International World Games Association , under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee ....
 event. As of 2007, it is the only city to host the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

The International Ski Federation Nordic World Ski Championships have been held in various numbers and types of events since 1925 for men and since 1954 for women....
 six times, doing so in 1926, 1938, 1958, 1978, 1989, and 2001.

The city also has an Association Football (soccer) club, FC Lahti
FC Lahti

FC Lahti is a Finland football club, based in the town of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier Division . The homeground of FC Lahti is Lahden Stadion....
, and an ice hockey
Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to simply as hockey, is a team sport played on ice. It is a fast paced and physical sport. Ice hockey is most popular in areas that are sufficiently cold for natural reliable seasonal ice cover such as Canada, the northern United States, Scandinavia and Russia, though with the advent of indoor artificial ice r...
 team, the Lahti Pelicans. In July-August 2009, Lahti will host the 18th World Masters Athletics Championships, an outdoor age-group track meet for men and women 35 and over.

Education


In the educational sector, Lahti is modest.

Its greatest asset is the highly valued Institute of Design, which is a part of Lahti University of Applied Sciences. The institute has gained international recognition in particular for jewelery and industrial design. Other areas of expertise include metal, woodworking and furniture.

The Faculty of Physical Activity at Lahti University of Applied Sciences offers a bachelor's degree programme in Sports Studies. The Sports Institute of Finland, which is based in Vierumäki near Lahti, is the most versatile centre of sports education in the country. In addition, Pajulahti Training Center, located in the neighboring town of Nastola, is one the leading sports and training centres in Finland.

Lahti is also the home of Helsinki University's department of Environmental and Ecological Sciences (Faculty of Biosciences). It's the only science department of the University of Helsinki located outside the greater Helsinki area.


Economy


The economic region of Lahti, which includes the surrounding municipalities, was strongly affected by the collapse of Finnish-Soviet trade and by the recession in the early 1990s.

The value of production slumped, especially in the mechanical engineering industry and other manufacturing industries (e.g. the furniture industry). Production also decreased in the textile and clothing industry. In 1990, there were 90,370 jobs in the Lahti Region. The number of jobs diminished over the next couple of years, so that in 1993 there were fewer than 70,000 jobs in the Lahti Region. The number of jobs had slowly increased to 79,138 in 1999.

By the end of the last millennium, it had become quite clear that the region was having difficulty in transforming itself from an industrial to a services-based economy. The main problems in the Lahti Region were the low number of highly educated people and disastrously low R&D spending. The population, due to low level of education, had trouble accessing labor markets which resulted in a very high rate of structural unemployment. Neither has the modernization of the industry been successful enough to maintain jobs.

Employment by sector (City of Lahti) 1980 1990 2000 2007
Services 52.0% 59.3% 63.5% 72.4%
Industry 47.1% 40.1% 36.4% 27.4%
Agriculture & Forestry 0.9% 0.6% 0.1% 0.2%


In 1995, R&D expenditure was FIM 715 per person, while Finland's average was about FIM 2050. The amount of Tekes (the National Technology Agency) funding in the Lahti Region grew 40% during 2004-2007 while the average growth in Finland was 60%. The low contribution to training and research retards business development in the region. The region remains continually outside the important flows of capital, as it cannot attract them with its own expertise.

Gross domestic product (Lahti Region) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
GDP at current prices; million € 3,449.3 3,709.7 3,697.5 3,982.3 4,136.8 4,242.4 4,381.9
Changes of GDP; year 2000 = 100% 100.0% 107.5% 107.2% 115.5% 119.9% 123.0% 127.7%
GDP per capita; whole country =100% 80.7% 82.0% 79.4% 84.3% 83.9% 83.4% 81.2%
GDP per employed; whole country =100% 86.6% 87.3% 83.6% 88.9% 88.7% 88.6% 87.1%


Demographics


As of 31 August 2008 Lahti’s population was 99 816, making it the seventh largest city in Finland by population.

Population by district 1964 1970 1980 1990 2000 2007
Center (Keskusta) 27,400 21,800 15,600 13,700 17,280 19,778
Laune 13,200 17,100 23,300 22,600 23,670 24,568
Kivimaa–Kiveriö–Joutjärvi 17,100 23,500 20,700 18,300 17,790 16,974
Kärpänen 9,400 7,600 12,800 12,700 11,940 11,612
Ahtiala 4,600 5,100 5,100 9,100 10,500 10,897
Mukkula 1,300 9,100 9,500 8,500 8,120 7,877
Jalkaranta 2,500 1,950 5,600 6,200 6,020 5,852
Kolava–Kujala 900 550 400 300 310 710


Transportation

Lahti has a railway station
Lahti railway station

The Lahti railway station is located in the city of Lahti in Finland.The station was designed by architect Thure Hellstr?m from the VR Group and built in 1935....
 on the Helsinki–Iisalmi line
List of railway lines in Finland

This is a list of railway lines run by the Finnish national rail carrier VR , including lists of stations on the most important lines....
, between Mäntsälä
Mäntsälä

M?nts?l? is a municipalities of Finland of Finland.It is located in the provinces of Finland of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa regions of Finland....
 and Kouvola
Kouvola

Kouvola is a cities of Finland and Municipalities of Finland in southeastern Finland. It is located northeast of the capital, Helsinki.Kouvola's central location within Finland's borders and as a border post between the European Union and Russian Federation makes it a quite lively town....
; before 2006, connections to Helsinki went via the Helsinki–Kajaani line
List of railway lines in Finland

This is a list of railway lines run by the Finnish national rail carrier VR , including lists of stations on the most important lines....
.

 Train
Single ticket Adults Travel time
Helsinki Central Station
13.20 € – 24.10 €
0:50–1:35 h
Tampere
19.30 € – 25.20 €
1:41–1:54 h
Turku
35.00 € – 40.10 €
2:39–3:50 h
Oulu
63.50 € – 72.00 €
6:37–10:02 h
Kuopio
40.30 € – 48.80 €
3:07–5:19 h
Jyväskylä
38.70 € – 46.10 €
3:21–4:31 h
 Express Bus
Single ticket / Return Adults Travel time
Helsinki Kamppi
20.90 € / 37.70 €
1:30–1:45 h
Tampere
22.40 € / 40.40 €
1:55–2:05 h
Turku
35.70 € / 64.30 €
3:10–3:50 h
Oulu
74.80 € / 134.70 €
6:50–11:10 h
Kuopio
46.70 € / 84.10 €
4:45–6:05 h
Jyväskylä
38.70 € / 46.10 €
2:25–3:10 h
Local Buses
Single ticket Adults Children
0–6 km
2.90 €
1.50 €
6–12 km
3.40 €
1.70 €


Local buses leave from the market square. Bus stops are on both the Aleksanterinkatu side and the Vapaudenkatu side of the square. See also the .

Road

Distance by road (km)
  • Helsinki
    Helsinki

    Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
      104
  • Helsinki-Vantaa Airport
    Helsinki-Vantaa Airport

    Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Vantaa, Finland, is the main airport of the Helsinki metropolitan region and the whole of Finland. It is located about from the center of Vantaa, Tikkurila, and from the Helsinki city centre....
      99
  • Tampere
    Tampere

    Tampere is a city in southern Finland located between two lakes, N?sij?rvi and Pyh?j?rvi . Since the two lakes differ in level by , the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity....
      126
  • Turku
    Turku

    Turku is a List of towns in Finland situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of Aura river. It is located in the region of Finland Proper in the Province of Western Finland....
      213
  • Jyväskylä
    Jyväskylä

    Jyv?skyl? is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland located in Central Finland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, near the lakes P?ij?nne and Lake Keitele....
      167
  • Lappeenranta
    Lappeenranta

    Lappeenranta is a cities of Finland and Municipalities of Finland that resides on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about from the Russian border....
      148
  • Kouvola
    Kouvola

    Kouvola is a cities of Finland and Municipalities of Finland in southeastern Finland. It is located northeast of the capital, Helsinki.Kouvola's central location within Finland's borders and as a border post between the European Union and Russian Federation makes it a quite lively town....
      62
  • Hämeenlinna
    Hämeenlinna

    H?meenlinna is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia in the south of Finland....
      73
  • Oulu
    Oulu

    Oulu is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of inhabitants in the Provinces of Finland of Oulu and the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland....
      505
  • Saint Petersburg
    Saint Petersburg

    Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
      356


Trivia

The asteroid
Asteroid

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids....
 1498 Lahti
1498 Lahti

1498 Lahti is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on September 16, 1938 by Y. Vaisala at Turku.External links ...
 was named after the city by its discoverer, the Finnish astronomer
Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies Celestial body such as planets, stars, and Galaxy.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using physical laws....
 Yrjö Väisälä
Yrjö Väisälä

Yrj? V?is?l? was a Finland astronomer and physicist.His main contributions were in the field of optics, but he was also very active in geodetics, astronomy and optical metrology....
.

Born in Lahti

  • Göran Enckelman
    Göran Enckelman

    G?ran Enckelman is a retired Finland association football player. He played in both Finland and Sweden, and for the Finland national football team....
    , football player
  • Pasi Nurminen
    Pasi Nurminen

    Pasi Nurminen is a Finnish people retired ice hockey goaltender. He was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers as their sixth-round pick, #189 overall, in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft....
    , former NHL goaltender
  • Toni Lydman
    Toni Lydman

    Toni Lydman is a Finland professional ice hockey defenceman with the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. He lives with his wife, Heta, and two daughters, Amanda and Ellen....
    , Buffalo Sabres Ice hockey Player
  • Toni Nieminen
    Toni Nieminen

    Toni Nieminen is a Finland ski-jumper who competed from 1991 to 2004.His biggest success came very early in his career, where he won three medals at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, earning two gold medals in the individual and team large hill events; and a bronze medal in the individual normal hill event....
    , ski jumper
  • Janne Ahonen
    Janne Ahonen

    Janne Petteri Ahonen is a Finland ski jumping has competed from 1992. He is considered one of the best and most successful ski jumpers of all time....
    , ski jumper
  • Mikko Ilonen
    Mikko Ilonen

    Mikko Ilonen is a Finland professional golfer.Ilonen was born in Lahti, Finland. He won the 2000 The Amateur Championship, and turned pro in 2001....
    , professional golfer
  • Ville Könönen, researcher
  • Aksu Hanttu, Drummer for the band Entwine
  • Ilona Jokinen
    Ilona Jokinen

    Ilona Jokinen is a Finland soprano opera singer. She began her vocal studies in Lahti in 1997 as a pupil of Leena Pulkki and was a pupil of Ritva Auvinen at the Helsinki Polytechnic from 2001 until December 2005 after which she received her Bachelor's Degree as Singing Teacher....
    , soprano opera singer
  • Jukka-Pekka Saraste
    Jukka-Pekka Saraste

    Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finland Conducting and violinist.Saraste was trained as a violinist. He later studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula, in the same class as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo V?nsk?....
    , conductor and violinist
  • Eija-Riitta Korhola
    Eija-Riitta Korhola

    Eija-Riitta Korhola is a Politics of Finland politician andMember of the European Parliamentwith the National Coalition Party ,part of the European People's Party and sits on...
    , politician


Sister cities

Västerås
Västerås

V?ster?s [v?st?r'o?s] is a Cities of Sweden in central Sweden, located on the shore of Lake M?laren in the province V?stmanland, some 100 km west of Stockholm....
, Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 (since 1940) Akureyri
Akureyri

Akureyri is a town in the northern part of Iceland; it is the second largest urban area after Greater Reykjav?k area but is the fourth largest Municipalities of Iceland in Iceland after Hafnarfj?r?ur, K?pavogur and Reykjav?k....
, Iceland
Iceland

Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland , is an island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean between mainland Europe and Greenland....
 (since 1947) Randers
Randers

Randers is a city in Randers municipality on the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. It is Denmark's 6th largest city with a population of 55,739 ....
, Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 (since 1947) Ålesund, Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
 (since 1947) Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
 (since 1953) Pécs
Pécs

P?cs , , is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya ....
, Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
 (since 1956) Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a market town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the administrative centre of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen , in the Oberbayern region, not far from the border with Austria....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 (since 1987) Suhl
Suhl

Suhl is a town in Thuringia, Germany. Its population in 2003 was 43,610....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 (since 1988) Kaluga
Kaluga

Kaluga is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in western Russia, located on the Oka River 188 km southwest of Moscow. It is the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast....
, Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 (since 1994) Narva
Narva

Narva is the third largest city in Estonia. It is located at the Extreme points of Estonia, by the Russian border, on the Narva River which drains Lake Peipus....
, Estonia
Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
 (since 1994, partnership agreement) Deyang
Deyang

Deyang is a prefecture-level city in Sichuan province, China. Deyang is a mostly industrial city, with the Erzhong Heavy Machinery Company This elegant city is known for a liquor factory called jiannanchun in the county-level city of Mianzhu and the Sanxingdui museum in Guanhan City about the ancient Shu culture famous for its bronze m...
, China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 (since 2000)

External links

  • – Official website


Maps


Media
  • – local newspaper in Finnish
  • – local newspaper in Finnish