Iisalmi (; sv, Idensalmi) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

Northern Savonia North Savo (or Northern Savonia; fi, Pohjois-Savo; sv, Norra Savolax) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of South Savo, Central Finland, North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, and North Karelia. Kuopio is the largest city in the r ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It is located north of Kuopio and south of

Kajaani Kajaani (; sv, Kajana) is the most populous town and the capital of the Kainuu Region of Finland. It is located southeast of Lake Oulu (Oulujärvi), which drains into the Gulf of Bothnia through the Oulu River (Oulujoki). As of , it had a pop ...

. The municipality has a population of (), which makes it the second largest of the five towns in Northern Savonia in population, only Kuopio being larger. It covers an area of of which is water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

is . The municipality is unilingually

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

. In the 2010s, Iisalmi is known as an export industry town, as well as a significant study town in the region.

History

Iisalmi traces its roots back to 1627, when the parish of Iisalmi was formed around the local church. The town's old wooden church, Gustav Adolf Church, was consecrated in 1780. In the 18th century, when

was under Swedish control, Sweden was frequently at war with Imperial Russia, and the area of Koljonvirta in Iisalmi was a battlefield on which one of the greatest Swedish victories occurred. However, Sweden lost its last war with Russia and had to surrender Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809. Iisalmi gained its status as town on October 20, 1891.Iisalmi: Historia
(in Finnish)

Geography

There are 111

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s in the Iisalmi region, the largest of which are Lake Onkivesi, Lake Haapajärvi, Lake Porovesi and

Lake Nerkoo A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the World Ocean, oce ...

Economy

Olvi Olvi plc ( fi, Olvi Oyj, ) is a Finnish brewery and soft drinks company founded in 1878. It currently holds 18.7% of Finland's market share in beverages, making it the largest Finnish-owned business in its sector. Among its subsidiaries, A. Le C ...

, the last big independent beer

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

in Finland, has its factory and headquarters in Iisalmi. (Other big Finnish breweries have been bought by multinational companies.)

Genelec Genelec Oy is a manufacturer of active loudspeaker systems based in Iisalmi, Finland. It designs and produces products especially for professional studio monitor, studio recording, mixing and mastering applications, broadcast, and movie producti ...

, a manufacturer of active monitors and loudspeakers] used in recording studios worldwide, has its factory and headquarters in Iisalmi. Normet, engineers and manufacturers of mechanised equipment for underground rock-mining and tunnelling, also has its factory and headquarters in Iisalmi. Headquarters is located in Espoo. Profile Vehicles makes ambulances and police cars. Iisalmi has its own Iisalmi railway station, railway station on the VR network. The line between Iisalmi and Oulu was

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

in December 2006, replacing diesel haulage of trains.

Culture

Events

Iisalmi, even though being a relatively small town, has many cultural events on small and somewhat larger scales. One memorable event, of the many, is "''Rompepäivät''", which translates as "the days of old junk and stuff". People gather together bringing various old items, from small sewing needles to old tractors, for everyone to see and many small things to be sold. A few old restored cars, trucks, motorcycles and tractors, some of them Finnish-made, are displayed for others to see. Here people talk about "good old times" or wonder over "ancient artifacts". Sometimes some of the finely restored machines are for sale to anyone interested to buy—of course if they can afford it. "''Oluset"'' is a music festival organized each July annually. The main sponsor is local brewery company

. "''Oluset"'' roughly translates to "a few beers". Also a smaller festival, "''Limuset"'' (Little soft drink festival" is organize as well by Olvi. "''Limuset"'' is mainly dedicated to kids and young people, and no alcoholic drinks are sold in the area.

Food

Ravintola Kuappi - Veikonkatu 1 - Iisalmi - 2

In the 1980s, each of Savonia's municipalities voted for its own parish dishes. ''Muurinpohjalettu'', a thin pancake or

crêpe A crêpe or crepe ( or , , Quebec French: ) is a very thin type of pancake. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: ''sweet crêpes'' () or ''savoury galettes'' (). They are often served with a wide variety of fillings such as cheese, ...

made of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, were chosen as the

traditional food Traditional foods are foods and dishes that are passed on through generations or which have been consumed for many generations. Traditional foods and dishes are traditional in nature, and may have a historic precedent in a national dish, regio ...

of Iisalmi. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's smallest restaurant, Kuappi, is located in Iisalmi.The world's smallest restaurants
''

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

'' 23 January 2013. Accessed on 30 June 2022.

Music

Currently the most famous Iisalmi-based band is a humorous country-rock orchestra Halavatun Papat. A rough translation of the name is "Damn Grandfathers". 20th-century composer

Joonas Kokkonen Joonas Kokkonen (; 13 November 1921 – 2 October 1996) was a Finnish composer. He was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius; his opera ''The Last Temptations'' has received over 500 performance ...

was born here, as were singer-songwriter

Jaakko Teppo Jaakko is a Finnish male first name, etymologically rooted in the Biblical names Jacob or James. The name day of Jaakko in the Finnish calendar is July 25. Jaakko may refer to: *Kings who are in English named ''James'' are in Finnish named ''Jaakko ...

and jazz pianist and composer Jarmo Savolainen.

Sports

Iisalmi is best known for its football club,

PK-37 Pallo-Kerho 37, also known as PK-37, is a Finland, Finnish football club from the city of Iisalmi. The club was founded on 10 October 1937 as a bandy and association football, football club, but later on it also became known for its pesäpallo a ...

and ice hockey club, IPK (

Iisalmen Peli-Karhut Iisalmen Peli-Karhut is a Finnish semi-professional ice hockey team based in Iisalmi Iisalmi (; sv, Idensalmi) is a town and municipality in the region of Northern Savonia in Finland. It is located north of Kuopio and south of Kajaani. The muni ...

). Other known sports clubs are FBI (floorball club), Iisalmen palloveikot, Klubi-36, Iina, Iisalmen Visa and Koljonvirran ratsastajat (riding club). Iisalmi has many good locations for playing sports. There is a very nice frisbee golf place near the Paloisvuori ski center. There are also many good beaches in Iisalmi, for example Perttu's beach and the Beach of the City. Many beaches offer an opportunity for beach volleyball too. In winter time Iisalmi offers good ski trails and skating rinks; winter sports fans can also go downhill skiing and snowboarding at the Paloisvuori ski center. In addition, Iisalmi has good facilities for gym workouts, swimming, bowling and minigolf.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Iisalmi is twinned with: *

Notodden Notodden () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Notodden. Notodden was separated from the munic ...

, Norway *

Pécel Pécel is a town in Pest county, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is situated outside Budapest's 17th district a little over from Budapest city centre. Notable people * Gedeon Ráday, soldier and politician, Minister of Defence * István ...

, Hungary *

Nyköping Nyköping () is a locality and the seat of Nyköping Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 32,759 inhabitants as of 2017. The city is also the capital of Södermanland County. Including Arnö, the locality on the southern shore of th ...

, Sweden *

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

, Germany *

Nykøbing Falster Nykøbing Falster (; originally named Nykøbing) is a southern Danish city, seat of the Guldborgsund ''kommune''. It belongs to Region Sjælland. The city lies on Falster, connected by the Frederick IX Bridge over the Guldborgsund (''Guld ...

, Denmark *

Kirishi Kirishi (russian: Ки́риши, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kirishsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volkhov River, southeast of St. Petersburg. Population: It was previously kno ...

, Russia *

Võru Võru (; vro, Võro; german: Werro) is a town and a municipality in south-eastern Estonia. It is the capital of Võru County and the centre of Võru Parish. History Võru was founded on 21 August 1784, according to the wish of the Empress Cather ...

, Estonia

References

External links

Official website of Iisalmi
{{authority control 1627 establishments in Sweden Cities and towns in Finland Grand Duchy of Finland Populated places established in 1627