EuroVelo: Baltic Sea Cycle Route (Hansa circuit)

Lappeenranta (Swedish: Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality situated on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Russian border. It belongs to the region of South Karelia. With approximately 73,000 inhabitants (31 March 2016) Lappeenranta is the 13th largest city in Finland. The neighboring municipality of Joutseno was consolidated with Lappeenranta on January 1, 2009, and the neighboring municipality of Ylämaa on January 1, 2010. Lappeenranta is known as an international university city in Finland with Lappeenranta University of Technology and Saimaa University of Applied Sciences which together have approximately 13,000 students from 68 countries. Lappeenranta is also a commercial centre of South-East Finland and the meeting point of the EU and Russia, 215 km from both Helsinki and St. Petersburg. Location on the southern shore of Lake Saimaa makes the city the region’s centre for tourism. Lappeenranta is second most visited city by Russian tourists in Finland after Helsinki and it competes with Helsinki for the largest share of tax-free sales in Finland.

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

Lappeenranta is known as a summer city, mostly due to its closeness to the Lake Saimaa . Europe’s 4th largest lake. The eponymous GoSaimaa (www.gosaimaa.com) provides all the touristic activities in the area. In addition, its inland location means that summers tend to be warmer and winters colder than along the coastal areas.

Lappeenranta does have a healthy winter tourism industry. Various cabins around Lake Saimaa, as well as numerous snowmobiles, Nordic skating, floating in the river, reindeer rides, paragliding, 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 (195 km or 121 miles) to Saint Petersburg than Helsinki, the capital of Finland (220 km or 140 miles). The presence of Russian tourists is noticeable by the many Russian registered cars on the streets and the use of Cyrillic letters in signs of some shops.

Places and events

• The old fortress, with a number of museums, cafés and the oldest Russian Orthodox church in Finland.
• St. Mary's Church of Lappee , an 18th-century wooden church in the center of the city.
• 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 Fortess, a two-day cultural festival held in early August.
• The Lappeenranta Ballet Gala in late August.
• The annual Lappeenranta National Singing Contest.
• The biggest sand castle in Finland is built next to Port of Lappeenranta every summer.

Porvoo (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈporʋoː]; Swedish: Borgå [ˈbɔrɡo]) is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) east of Helsinki . Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century. Porvoo is the seat of the Swedish speaking Diocese of Borgå of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland .

History

Porvoo was first mentioned in documents in the early 14th century, and Porvoo was given city rightsaround 1380, even though according to some sources the city was founded in 1346. The old city of Porvoo was formally disestablished and the new city of Porvoo founded in 1997 when the city of Porvoo and the Rural municipality of Porvoo were consolidated. WhenSweden lost the city of Viborg to Russia in 1721, the episcopal seat was moved to Porvoo. At this time, Porvoo was the second largest city in Finland. After the conquest of Finland by Russian armies in 1808 Sweden had to cede Finland to Russia in 1809 (the Treaty of Fredrikshamn ). The Diet of Porvoo in 1809 was a landmark in the History of Finland . The Tsar Alexander I confirmed the new Finnish constitution (which was essentially the Swedish constitution from 1772), and made Finland an autonomous Grand Duchy .

The Porvoo Common Statement is a report issued at the conclusion of theological conversations by official representatives of four Anglican Churches and eight Nordic and Baltic Lutheran Churches in 1989–1992. It established the Porvoo Communion , so named after the Porvoo Cathedral where the Eucharist was celebrated on the final Sunday of the conversations leading to the Statement.

Name

The townreceived its name from a Swedish earth fortress near the river Porvoonjoki which flows through the town. The name Porvoo is the Fennicised version of the Swedish name (Borgå) and its parts of borg meaning "castle" and å "river".

Urban development

The town is famed for its "Old Town" (Gamla Stan in Swedish), a dense mediaeval street pattern with predominantly wooden houses. The Old Town came close to being demolished in the 19th century by a new urban plan for the city. The plan was cancelled due to a popular resistance headed by Count Louis Sparre

The central point of the old town is the medieval, stone and brick Porvoo Cathedral which gave its name to the Porvoo Communion – an inter-church agreement between a number ofAnglican andLutheran denominations. The cathedral was damaged by fire on 29 May 2006: the roof was totally destroyed but the interior is largely intact. A drunken youth had played with fire at the church, unaware of recent tarwork and nearby tarcontainers, accidentally causing a large fire. He was later sentenced to a short prison term and restitutions of 4.3 million Euro.

The red-coloured wooden storage buildings on the riverside are a proposed UNESCOworld heritagesite. Already by the early 19th century the authorities understood the value of the old town, and so with the need for growth a plan was made for a 'new town' built adjacent to the old town, following a grid plan but with houses also built in wood.

By the end of the 20th century there was pressure to develop the essentially untouched western side of the river. There was concern that growth would necessitate the construction of a second bridge across the river into the town, thus putting further strain on the wooden town. An architectral competition was held in 1990, the winning entry of which proposed building the second bridge. Plans for the western side of the river have progressed under the direction of architect Tuomas Siitonen, and both a vehicle bridge and a pedestrian bridge have been built. The design for new housing is based on a typology derived from the old store houses on the opposite side of the river. Yet another new development entails the construction of a large business park called King's Gate (Kuninkaanportti in Finnish,Kungsporten in Swedish), which is presently under construction.

Porvoo railway station does not receive regular train services, but special excursion trains from Kerava (either with steam locomotives or comprising former VR diesel railcars from the 1950s) operate on summer Saturdays.

Tourist information at Art Factory
Läntinen Aleksanterinkatu 1
06100 Porvoo

Open: Mon-Fri 9am-7pm, Sat-Sun 10am-5pm