Orimattila

Orimattila () is a town in Päijänne Tavastia region, Finland. The southern part of Lahti is connected to the village of Orimattila, which is located in the region of Pennala. There are also several municipalities in the area, such as Iitti, Kärkölä, Lahti, Mäntsälä, and Pukkila.

Orimattila has a population of (), and it covers an area of 310.29 square kilometers. Its area of land is 28.87 square kilometers, which is filled with water. The municipality is also unilingually Finnish. Its per-capita population is around 20.14.

The subject of the coat of arms of Orimattila, "a stallion horse carrying a scythe", refers to both the name of the municipality and local agriculture. The name itself comes from a house called ''Orhimattila'', hosted by Henrich Mattzsson Orhimattila, which was already written in a 1573 book of judgment. The coat of arms was designed by Ahti Hammar and approved by the Orimattila Municipal Council at its meeting on September 15, 1956. The Ministry of the Interior approved the use of the coat of arms on December 17 of the same year.;

Results of the 2021 Finnish municipal elections, resulted in the True Finns being the largest group on Orimattila council, in Orimattila.

History

The area of Orimattila contains Finland's oldest known settlement.

Orimattila gets its name from a local farm, established by ''Matti Laurinpoika'' in 1539. His estate was known as ''Orih-Mattila''. As a village, Orimattila was first mentioned in 1561 as ''Orihmattila''. A chapel community was established in the late 1500s, and it became an independent parish after it was separated from the neighboring parish of Hollola in 1636. The parish and its main settlement were still known as ''Orihmattila'' until the 19th century. ''Orih'' is an older pronunciation of the word ''ori'' meaning "stallion", though the loss of the h in place names was prevented by the element after it, in this case ''-mattila'' (cf. Orivesi, also called ''Orihvesi'' until the 19th century).

During the Great Northern War, which was caused by the Russian occupation of Finland, the parishes of Orimattila and Hollola were temporarily united. The following year, the bishop of Orimattila was forced to collect taxes from the neighboring parish of Hollola, which was then taken over by the bishop of Stockholm.

Many immigrants from the Kirvu region were settled in Orimattila as a result of the Continuation War. Orimattila became a town in 1992. In 2009, the municipality decided not to participate in the merger negotiations between the municipalities of Artjärvi and Orimattila, and on March 22, 2010, the two municipalities merged.

Population trends

The following diagram shows the city's population development over the past five years. The region where the city is located is used according to the situation on January 1, 2017.

Famous people

Culture
* Selma Anttila, Writer
* Roni Back, YouTuber
* Miklu, Ex-YouTuber, Musician, Writer
*Kaj Chydenius, a composer, is staying in the village
*Eero Erkko, Member of Parliament 1907–1918, newspaperman
* J. H. Erkko, poet
* Eki Jantunen, musician
*Aki Kaurismäki, film director
*Mika Kaurismäki, film director
*Jukka Lehtinen, sculptor
* Paavo Melander, composer/lyricist
*Pentti Papinaho, sculptor
* Annika Siltaniemi, Tenavatähti winner
* Helmi Vuorelma, founder of the weaving company
Athletes
* Taito Haara, power and weight lifter
*Kristiina Mäkelä, triple jumper
*Satu Mäkelä-Nummela, Olympic shooting gold medalist (women's trap)
Other famous people
* Yvonne de Bruyn, Miss Finland
* Vesa-Matti Peltola, sports expert
* Oskari Rajanen, sales advisor

Twin towns — Sister cities

Orimattila is twinned with:

* Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen, Germany
* Östhammar, Sweden
* Jõgeva, Estonia
* Valka, Latvia

See also

* Artjärvi
* Myrskylä
* Pukkila

References

External links

Municipality of Orimattila
– Official website, ''finnish'', ''swedish'', ''english'', ''german'' and ''russian''

Cities and towns in Finland
Populated places established in 1636
1636 establishments in Sweden

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