Lappeenranta

Lappeenranta ( Villmanstrand in Swedish) is a city located on banks of the lake Saimaa in the south-east of the Finland, approximately to 20 km of the border with the Russia. The city is in the province of southernmost Finland ( Etelä-Suomen lääni in Finnois), and is the capital of the area of Karelia of the South. Lappeenranta is the 11th town of Finland.

History

With the Middle Ages, the site shelters already the significant market of Lapvesi , Bénéficant of its strategic position on a imporante trade route between the Scandinavia and the grounds Russian. The recognition of the establisheds among by Christine of Sweden in 1649 thus comes as like the confirmation from an accomplished fact. The city receives its Swedish name of Villmanstrand , the bank of the wild man , which testifies well to little consideration Swedish Masters for these tribes Carélien born. The blazon preserved the memory of this name.

Swedish begins in the following years the construction of the fortress. At the end of the Russo-Swedish War of 1741-1743, the Traité of Åbo yields the Karelia to the Russia. Lappeenranta is thus found in Russia 65 years before the remainder of Finland. The city then experiences an important development as a frontier town, while remaining in the shade of Vyborg. It develops a military tradition around its imposing fortress. One finds there still today the military academy most prestigious of the country.

The XIXe century also sees an important development of industry.

After the War of Continuation, the essence of Karelia of the South is annexed by the the USSR and Lappeenranta, before always in second plan compared to Vyborg, is found by defect in position to play the first parts with the regional scales.

The city strongly increased after the fastening of 3 close farming communities between 1967 and 1989.

Geography

The municipality counts 37 km of border with the Russia and a border post (Nuijamaa. A northern small portion of the commune is occupied by the lake Saimaa, but the essence makes up of forests and arable lands. The Salpausselkä also crosses the commune, blocking in north water of Saimaa. The close municipalities are Joutseno in the east, Taipalsaari and Lemi in north, Luumäki in the west and Ylämaa in south-west.

Economy

The traditional base of the economy rests as in the close cities on the Pulp paper. UPM is the first private employer of the city.

Today, Lappeenranta put much on tourism, in strong increase. For Finnish it is a gravitational city because of the framework of life, the history and the Saimaa big lake. But the explosion of tourism is especially due to the frequentation of Russian, not attracted by the only sight of blue water of Saimaa since the top of the fortress, but by the possibility of shopping more varied much much more than on their premises. The statistics thus place Lappeenranta at the second rank of the towns of Finland most visited by the foreigners, just behind Helsinki, with 306.000 foreign tourists in 2004.

Higher education

Lappeenranta counts 11.000 students, divided in 4 establishments of the higher education, most notable being the technical university.

Transport

The city is connected to the Finnish railway network, VR putting it at 2:45 Helsinki.

The city also counts a small airport, which quodidiennement connects it to Helsinki (operated by Finncomm Airlines).

The Canal of Saimaa connects the city to Vyborg and the Golfe of Finland.

Lastly, the city, although offset, is well connected to the other Finnish cities by road way, crossed by the main road 6 (Helsinki - Joensuu - Kajaani) and starting point of the n°13 towards Mikkeli. Distances:

Twinnings

Lappeenranta is twinned with

External bonds

  • Town of Lappeenranta

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