Kerava (; sv, Kervo) is a town and municipality within the Uusimaa region of Finland. The municipalities of Vantaa, Sipoo and Tuusula are adjacent to Kerava, which is part of the

Helsinki metropolitan area Greater Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin seutu, Suur-Helsinki, Swedish: ''Helsingforsregionen'', ''Storhelsingfors'') is the metropolitan area surrounding Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It includes the smaller Capital Region (''Pääkaupunkiseutu' ...

. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Kerava is the 30th largest municipality in terms of population, but the 5th smallest municipality in terms of area in Finland (and the second smallest in the Uusimaa region after Kauniainen). However, it is also the third most densely populated area in the sub-region after Helsinki and Kauniainen. The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The Sinebrychoff brewery operations are based in Kerava. There is also a well-known prison in the town (''Keravan vankila''), which includes 94 places in the open prison ward.

History

Until the Middle Ages, Kerava was a wilderness, until two villages, Ylikerava ("Upper Kerava") and Alikerava ("Lower Kerava"), were created along the

Kerava River The ' ( sv, Kervo å; the Kerava River) is a river in Finland. The 65-kilometer-long river starts from Lake Ridasjärvi in Hyvinkää,

(''Keravanjoki''). The first signs of established village settlement date back to the 1440s. Kerava was annexed to Tuusula when the Tuusula parish was founded in 1643. In 1862, the railway between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna was opened, which quickly brought industry to

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

Kerava; the carpentry factory in Kerava was established in 1908, and the

wood industry The wood industry or timber industry (sometimes lumber industry -- when referring mainly to sawed boards) is the industry concerned with forestry, logging, timber trade, and the production of primary forest products and wood products (e.g. furnitu ...

became an important factor in the development of the town. The coat of arms designed by Ahti Hammar features a woodworking joints made by a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

. In 1924, Kerava was separated from Tuusula as its own township. At that time, it had a population of about 3,000. Originally, it also included part of the Korso area, and Korso railway station was also located in the township area. However, from 1954 onwards, the entire Korso was annexed to the then Helsinki Rural Municipality. During the peak periods of the late 1960s and 1970s, the population almost doubled due to immigration and good transport connections, and new

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

s were created in Kurkela, Kilta and Untola. Kerava was officially granted town rights in 1970.

Demographics

Transport

Kerava has two railway stations, Kerava Central Railway Station and Savio station. The Kerava Central Railway Station is an interchange station, with connections from the main track from Helsinki to Riihimäki to the tracks to Lahti and Porvoo. The Helsinki Airport (HEL) is located about 15 kilometers to the southwest of the city by car. It is along

Highway 4 Route 4, or Highway 4, may refer to several highways in the following countries: International * AH4, Asian Highway 4 * European route E04 * European route E004 * Cairo – Cape Town Highway Albania * SH-4 road in Albania from Durres to Kakav ...

( E75) from Kerava to the city center of Helsinki. The city of Kerava joined

Helsinki Regional Transport Authority The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority ( fi, Helsingin seudun liikenne, HSL; sv, Helsingforsregionens trafik, HRT) is the inter-municipal authority that maintains the public transportation network of the nine municipalities of Greater H ...

(HSL) in 2010.

Culture

Food

Many

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

dishes were named traditional food of Kerava parish in the 1980s: Yrjö's lamb (''à la Jorgos''), garlic potatoes and crushed garlic in oil, and, as a dessert, a

gooseberry Gooseberry ( or (American and northern British) or (southern British)) is a common name for many species of ''Ribes'' (which also includes currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance. The berries of those in the genu ...

pie with vanilla sauce.Jaakko Kolmonen: ''Kotomaamme ruoka-aitta: Suomen, Karjalan ja Petsamon pitäjäruoat'', p. 56. Helsinki: Patakolmonen Ky, 1988. (in Finnish)

Politics

Results of the

2019 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 14 April 2019. For the first time, no party received more than 20% of the vote. The Centre Party, which had been the largest party following the 2015 elections, dropped to fourth place, losing 18 seat ...

in Kerava: *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

19,8% * National Coalition Party 19,3% * Finns Party 19,0% * Green League 12,9% * Left Alliance 8,6% * Centre Party 6,8% * Movement Now (''common list of Uusimaa)'' 4,4% * Christian Democrats 3,2% * Blue Reform 1,9%

Notable people from Kerava

* President

J. K. Paasikivi Juho Kusti Paasikivi (; 27 November 1870 – 14 December 1956) was the seventh president of Finland (1946–1956). Representing the Finnish Party until its dissolution in 1918 and then the National Coalition Party, he also served as Prime Minister ...

(1870–1956), lived in Kerava since 1917 to the 1940s *

Hanna-Maria Seppälä Hanna-Maria Hintsa (' Seppälä born 13 December 1984) is a retired Finnish freestyle swimmer, who won the world title in the 100 m freestyle at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the co ...

(b. 1984), Finnish freestyle swimmer * Volmari Iso-Hollo (1907–1969), Olympic medalist * Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Finnish composer *

Väinö Bremer Väinö Elias Bremer (24 April 1899 – 23 December 1964) was a Finnish biathlete, modern pentathlete, and pilot who competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics and in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He was born in Turku. In 1924 Winter Games he was a me ...

(1899-1964), Finnish Olympic medalist biathlete and pilot died here in a plane crash

References

External links

Town of Kerava
– Official website (In Finnish
Information
- Official Websites (In English)
Satellite photo of Kerava
{{authority control Greater Helsinki Cities and towns in Finland Populated places established in 1970 1970 establishments in Finland