Kupittaa ( sv, Kuppis) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

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 on the eastern side of the city's centre, around the Kupittaa Park, the first landscaped

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

in a Finnish city. The district serves as a centre for recreation and business. Turku has recently planned a residential area for 750 residents on the premises of a former HKScan sausage factory. The area hosts, among other things, numerous

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

s facilities, such as the

Veritas Stadion Veritas Stadion is an association football stadium in Turku, Finland. It is situated in the district of Kupittaa, in an area dedicated to sporting venues. The stadium serves as the home venue for FC Inter Turku and Turun Palloseura playing in Finl ...

, a

Finnish baseball 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 ...

stadium, a

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...

, a bowling alley, a skateboarding area and a

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

track, and the Kupittaa open-air swimming pools. The

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

arena in the district was demolished in 2005. A new one was inaugurated in November 2006. Most of the Turku Science Park business centre is located in Kupittaa. The centre is currently expanding around

Kupittaa railway station Kupittaa railway station ( fi, Kupittaan rautatieasema, sv, Kuppis järnvägsstation) is located in the Kupittaa district of Turku, Finland. The station is located about three kilometres from the Turku Central railway station in the immediate ...

, next to

Finnish national road 1 The Finnish national road 1 ( fi, Valtatie 1 or fi, Ykköstie; sv, Riksväg 1) is the main route between the major cities of Helsinki and Turku in southern Finland. It runs from Munkkiniemi in Helsinki to the VI District of Turku, and is par ...

(part of

European route E18 European route E18 runs from Craigavon in Northern Ireland to Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is about in length. Although the designation implies the possibility of a through jour ...

) between

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and Turku. According to a version of the legend, the first

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

Finns were baptised into

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

by the

Bishop Henry Saint Henry ( fi, Henrik; sv, Henrik; la, Henricus; died 20 January 1156.) was a medieval English clergyman. He came to Sweden with Cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare in 1153 and was most likely designated to be the new Archbishop of Uppsala, but th ...

at a spring in Kupittaa Park on Midsummer Day in the year 1155. In the 18th century, the spring was used as a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

facility.

Name

The name ''Kupittaa'' may be associated with an old border and may be related to the word , a name for a boundary mark. Another theory is that it comes from the Russian word for a

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

, .

References

External links

{{coord, 60, 26, 42, N, 022, 17, 36, E, region:FI_type:city_source:kolossus-fiwiki, display=title Districts of Turku