Reposaari ( sv, Räfsö) is an island and village at the

Bothnian Sea The Bothnian Sea ( sv, Bottenhavet; fi, Selkämeri) links the Bothnian Bay (also called the Bay of Bothnia) with the Baltic proper. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, t ...

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north-w ...

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 ...

. The island is located near the mouth of river

Kokemäenjoki The Kokemäenjoki ("Kokemäki River", sv, Kumo älv) is a river in southwestern Finland. Geography The river originates at Lake Liekovesi in the Pirkanmaa region, and flows to the Gulf of Bothnia at Pori in the Satakunta region. Primary tribu ...

, southwest of the Pori's city center. The population of Reposaari is 1,099 (2009). Since the 1956 the island has been connected with mainland by highway and railroad bridges. The village of Reposaari is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Pori. It uses a grid street plan that was designed in 1874. The buildings are mainly old wooden houses from late-19th or early-20th century. One of the oldest is a hotel built in 1838. It works today as a restaurant.Finnish National Board of Antiquities
Retrieved 10 June 2013. (in Finnish) Reposaari has also a school, kindergarten, library,

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

camping site A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using ten ...

and a

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

. The nearest hotel is located away at

Mäntyluoto Mäntyluoto ( sv, Tallholmen) is a district in Pori, Finland. It is mostly industrial and harbour area, including the Mäntyluoto Harbour which is a part of the Port of Pori. Mäntyluoto is the terminus of the Tampere–Pori railway The Tampere� ...

. Reposaari is defined as a "Nationally Important Built Cultural Environment" by the

Finnish National Board of Antiquities The Finnish Heritage Agency ( fi, Museovirasto, sv, Museiverket), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is ...

Name

Reposaari can be translated as "Fox Island". The

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 ...

name contains a translation error since the old

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

name "Reffzöö" refers to word "ref" meaning reef, not "räf" which means fox.Kokemäenjoen käyttötieto – Reposaari.
Retrieved 10 June 2013. (in Finnish)

History

Reposaari has been an important harbor place since the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

times because of its deep and protected

natural harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

. It was a stage for German Hansa merchants on their way up the Kokemäenjoki river. The

Port of Pori Port of Pori ( fi, Porin satama) is a complex of three harbours. It is by the Gulf of Bothnia in Pori, Finland. The port authority of Pori was established in 1780. Today the Port of Pori is a corporation owned by the city. Port of Pori has l ...

was located at Reposaari from the 18th century to the early 1900s. In the 1870s, Reposaari was the largest Finnish port in exports. Today the old harbor area works as a

fishing port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

. During the late-19th century, Reposaari was highly industrialized. Major employers were a

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

(''Reposaaren Konepaja'') and a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

(''Reposaaren saha''). They were both closed in the 1970s.

Ballast plants

Memorial of foreign sailors in Pori Finland

Reposaari is known of its extraordinary

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

. It consists of many

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

that live outside their native distributional range. Exotic plants invaded the island during the

sail ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...

era as the ships unloaded the sand used as a

sailing ballast Ballast is used in ships to provide moment to resist the lateral forces on the hull. Insufficiently ballasted boats tend to tip or heel excessively in high winds. Too much heel may result in the vessel capsizing. If a sailing vessel needs to vo ...

. More than 70 exotic species can be found today at Reposaari. Most of them are from southern parts of

Baltic sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

or from the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

but some have arrived even from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Most common species are ones like

Carduus nutans ''Carduus nutans'', with the common names musk thistle, nodding thistle, and nodding plumeless thistle, is a biennial plant in the daisy and sunflower family Asteraceae. It is native to regions of Eurasia. Description ''Carduus nutans'' is usual ...

Jacobaea vulgaris ''Jacobaea vulgaris'', syn. ''Senecio jacobaea'', is a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia, usually in dry, open places, and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere. Common names inc ...

Melilotus albus ''Melilotus albus'', known as honey clover, white melilot (UK), Bokhara clover (Australia), white sweetclover (USA), and sweet clover, is a nitrogen-fixing legume in the family Fabaceae. ''Melilotus albus'' is considered a valuable honey plan ...

and

Anchusa officinalis ''Anchusa officinalis'', commonly known as the common bugloss or alkanet, is a plant species in the genus ''Anchusa''. The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 10 for most nectar production (nectar per u ...

Culture and sports

Reposaari is the birthplace of Finnish singer

Eino Grön Eino Grön, born January 31, 1939, is a Finnish American singer known for his performance of a wide range of popular music styles, including Tango, jazz, and spiritual music. Grön was born at the island of Reposaari in Pori but has lived the l ...

and musician

Jussi Hakulinen Jussi Pekka Hakulinen (21 December 1964 – 9 August 2022) was a Finnish musician and singer-songwriter. He was one of the original members of the group Yö Yö ( en, night) was a Finland, Finnish rock music, rock band, formed in 1981 in Po ...

who was the founding member of popular rock group

Yö Yö ( en, night) was a Finland, Finnish rock music, rock band, formed in 1981 in Pori, Finland. The band has had many line-up changes during their history, and almost 20 different musicians play or have played with the band. Yö's first line- ...

. The 1985 American drama film ''

White Nights White night, White Night, or White Nights may refer to: * White night (astronomy), a night in which it never gets completely dark, at high latitudes outside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles * White Night festivals, all-night arts festivals held in ...

'', directed by

Taylor Hackford Taylor Edwin Hackford (born December 31, 1944) is an American film director and former president of the Directors Guild of America. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for ''Teenage Father'' (1979). Hackford went on to direct ...

, was partly shot at Reposaari. Most famous athlete from Reposaari is the

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

Olympic gold medal wrestler and later member of

Finnish Parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

Kelpo Gröndahl Kelpo Olavi Gröndahl (28 March 1920 – 2 August 1994) was a light-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler from Finland. He competed at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and won a silver and a gold medal, respectively. He won another silver medal at the ...

. Local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club Reposaaren Kunto (ReKu) plays in

Vitonen Vitonen or V divisioona is the sixth level in the Finnish football league system and comprises 228 teams. The V divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Vitonen (''Number Five'' in English and ''Femman'' in Swed ...

, which is the sixth level of Finnish football.

Sights

Church and cemetery

Reposaari Church is a wooden hexagonal church built in 1876. The belltower is octagonal. It is often said representing a "Norwegian style" architecture. On the churchyard is the memorial of torpedo boat S2. The boat sank outside Reposaari during a fierce storm in October 1925, taking down 53 men with her. The memorial is a work by Finnish sculptor

Wäinö Aaltonen Wäinö Valdemar Aaltonen (8 March 1894 – 30 May 1966) was a Finnish artist and sculptor. The Chambers Biographical Dictionary describes him as "one of the leading Finnish sculptors". He was born to a tailor in the village of Karinainen, Finla ...

. The church was the venue for the wedding of

Finnish President The president of the Republic of Finland ( fi, Suomen tasavallan presidentti; sv, Republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the p ...

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (; born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who has served as president of Finland since March 2012, the 12th person to hold that office. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Part ...

. Reposaari cemetery is located by the church. It is the final resting place of the Olympic gold medalist

. There is also a grave and a memorial stone for foreign sailors who died at Reposaari.

Fortress

Reposaari Fortress (''Reposaaren linnakepuisto'') is a

coastal defence Coastal management is defence against flooding and erosion, and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands. Protection against rising sea levels in the 21st century is crucial, as sea level rise accelerates due to climate change. Changes in s ...

system built in 1935. It was used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

against

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

aircraft bombing the port of Pori. The

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( fi, Merivoimat, sv, Marinen) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short for ...

owned the fortress until 1964. The area was restored in the 1990s and it is now open to the public. It consists of two Canet naval guns, dugouts,

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

s and

trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from eros ...

es.Spotting History
Retrieved 10 June 2013.

Fishing port

Reposaari fishing port was established in 1967. Today, it is the major fishing port in Finland. A

fish restaurant Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

''Merimesta'' was opened in 2001.

References

{{coord, 61.613171, N, 21.445742, E, scale:80000_region:FI, display=title Finnish islands in the Baltic Fishing communities Landforms of Satakunta Pori Villages in Finland