Kuopio
Kuopio is a
Finnish city located in the province of
Eastern Finland and the region of
Northern Savonia. A population of over 90,000 makes it the 8th biggest city in the country. The city has a total area of 1,730
km², of which 805 km² is water and half forest. The
population density is only 52 inhabitants/km², but the center of the city is populated densely. If we count the population of the whole Kuopio region, it is about 120,000.
Kuopio was founded in
1653 by Governor
Peter Brahe, but the official date is recognized as
November 17,
1775, when King
Gustav III of Sweden ordered the establishment of the city of Kuopio.
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Central Kuopio from the Puijo tower |
Kuopio is known as the cultural center of Eastern Finland.
The city is surrounded by lake
Kallavesi, and several parts of it are built on islands. Kuopio is known for its association with a national delicacy, Finnish fish pastry (
Kalakukko), and the dialect of Savo, as well as the hill of
Puijo and the
Puijo tower.
The traffic connections of the city are good, and include the
Pendolino trains,
Finnair and
Blue1.
As of 1.1.2006, the biggest employers of the city are:Town of Kuopio (5 977 employees),
Kuopio University Hospital (KUH; in Finnish KYS) (4 166),
University of Kuopio (1 595),
Savo Consortium for Education (636),
Niuvanniemi hospital (596),
PeeÄssä Coop (572),
Finland Post Group (527),
ISS (478) and
Atria PLC (350).
Kuopio has always been a school town. The most important institutions are the Vocational College of Northern Savonia, the Pohjois-Savo Vocational Institute,
Savonia University of Applied Sciences, the University of Kuopio and the Kuopio department of the
Sibelius Academy (students include eg.
Tarja Turunen, ex-
Nightwish).
In Finland the inhabitants of Kuopio have a special reputation: they are known as jovial and verbally joking. People of Kuopio region and Eastern Finland have always had many health problems and the mortality has been higher than on an average in Finland. Nowadays Kuopio is known as a strong center of welfare and health profession, as the university is particularly oriented to those areas.
During the 2000's Kuopio has situated very well in many imago, popularity and city-attractiveness-queries. It has always been near the top among the Finnish cities.
The municipality of
Vehmersalmi joined the city of Kuopio on January 1st 2005 like the municipality of
Kuopion Maalaiskunta in
1969 and the municipality of
Riistavesi in
1973.
*
Juhani Aho*
Martti Ahtisaari*
Minna Canth*
Pekka Halonen*
Olli Jokinen*
Hannes Kolehmainen*
Lasse Lehtinen*
Paavo Lipponen*
Pertti "Spede" Pasanen*
Wille Riekkinen*
Juho Rissanen*
Kimmo Timonen*
Johan Vilhelm Snellman*
Fridolf Weurlander* von Wright -brothers,
Magnus,
Wilhelm and
Ferdinand*
Sami Kapanen*
Janne Saavalainen*
Marco Hietala*
Zachary Hietala*
KalPa*
KuPS* Puijon Pesis plays the national sport of Finland,
pesäpallo* FIS World Cup
Ski Jumping March 7th 2006 in
Puijo*
Kuopio - Official site of city's government in english
*
KuopioInfo - Various resources about different areas of interest related to Kuopio History and Life (English, Russian, Finnish, Swedish)
*
Savonia University of Applied Sciences*
University of Kuopio*
Satellite picture by Google Maps
