Imatra

Imatra is a city located on banks of the lake Saimaa in the south-east of the Finland, at the border with the Russia. The city is in the province of southernmost Finland ( Etelä-Suomen lääni in Finnois) and the area of Karelia of the South.

Architecture is resolutely modern. One of the most known buildings is the Eglise of the three crosses ( Kolmen ristin kirkko ), one of major works of Alvar Aalto. The city also accommodated Asuntomessut in 1986.

Each summer, an important festival of Jazz, the Imatra Big Band Festival, attracts 50.000 people. It is the second more important jazz festival of the country after Pori Jazz.

It is the town of birth of the hockeyor Jussi Markkanen. The former president of the Parliament Riitta Uosukainen, born on the other side of the border during the war, was elected municipal a long time.

Geography

Imatra is at the level of the principal breach in the Moraine of Salpausselkä, that which lets run out the water of all the lakes of the east of the country through only one river, the Vuoksi. The city, cut into two by Vuoksi which crosses the Imatrankoski (most important rapids of Europe), is wedged between the lake Saimaa and the border. It strictly speaking does not have a true center, but is made of 3 industrial parks among most important of the country.

The rapids of Imatrankoski, although now closed by a stopping which releases its water only a few minutes per day in summer, are one of the natural sites most known of the countries and for this reason classified national landscape. A historical hotel dominates the rapids since 1903.

The commune is bordered by Joutseno in the west, Ruokolahti in the east and north. The old Finnish city (before the War of Winter) of Enso, become the Russian city of Svetogorsk, is distant of only 9 km.

The city is crossed by the main road 6, which connects it to Lappeenranta (36 km), Joensuu (199 km) and Helsinki (260 km). Saint-Petersbourg is to 245 km.

Economy

Thanks to the energy provided by the rapids of the Vuoksi river, the city experiences a considerable development starting from 1929 and of the construction of the dam Imatrankoski. Its golden age lasts of the end of the Guerre of Continuation until the Années 1980, with the installation of several factories of Pulp paper. It then is touched very hard by the crisis which follows the collapse of the Soviet Union. The beginning of the Années 1990 sees an explosion of the unemployment and the beginning of a decrease of the population of 1% per annum which was not stopped.

The paper maker Stora Enso remains the largest employer of the city, with 2.800 paid. One finds there also steel-works, subsidiary of the group Wärtsilä.

Twinnings

Imatra is twinned with

External bonds

Town of Imatra

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