Satakunnankatu is an east–west, busy street in the center of Tampere, Finland, which is one of the city's main streets. It starts from the vicinity of Tampere Cathedral on the east side of Tammerkoski, where it separates the Jussinkylä and Kyttälä Districts. The street crosses the rapids along the Satakunta Bridge (''Satakunnansilta'') and runs on the west side between Finlayson and the

Hämeenpuisto Hämeenpuisto is a street and public park in Tampere, Finland that is over in length. Its length and central location has earned the park the name "Central Park of Tampere". The park was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel in 1830. Originally the nam ...

park. From there it continues through the Amuri area to the

Pirkankatu Pirkankatu is a busy, east–west street in Tampere, Finland, which forms the southern border of the Amuri district. The districts of Kaakinmaa and Pyynikinrinne are located south of the street. To the east, the end of Pirkankatu is the Hämee ...

street. Satakunnankatu is part of the nationally significant

industrial landscape ''Industrial Landscape'' is the title given to each of a series of oil paintings by the English artist L. S. Lowry, painted over a number of years between 1934 and 1955. Each picture is in the form of a landscape painting, in which the traditio ...

of Tammerkoski, and there are several sites along it that are valuable for architecture, cultural history and the cityscape. The street is bordered by, among other things, the former weaving building Plevna (1877), which belongs to the Finlayson factory area, where the first

electric light An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...

ing in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

and the then Russian Empire was introduced in 1882. Other nationally significant buildings on Satakunnankatu include the Central Fire Station designed by

Wivi Lönn Wivi Lönn (20 May 1872 – 27 December 1966), born as Olivia Mathilda Lönn, was a Finnish people, Finnish architect. She was the first woman to be awarded the honorary title of "Professor" by the Finnish Association of Architects. Early life ...

(1907) and the Hotel Tammer (1928) designed by

Bertel Strömmer Bertel Strömmer (11 July 1890, Ikaalinen – 18 April 1962, Tampere) was a Finnish architect. Strömmer worked as Tampere City Architect years 1918–53 and most of his work is located in Tampere. Strömmer designed both private and public ...

. The current street name Satakunnankatu (meaning " Satakunta Street") was marked in the Tampere's town plan in 1907. However, the history of the street is older. Initially, there have been two streets with different names, ''Uusikatu'' ("New Street") and ''Uudensillankatu'' ("New Bridge Street"), which the Tammerkoski rapids has separated from each other. The first and oldest part of the street is located in the area which nowadays stretches from Aleksis Kiven katu to Näsilinnankatu. This area, west of the rapids, was designed by geographic surveyor Daniel Hall (1739–1803) in 1775. Hall's plan later became Tampere's first zoning plan, taking effect in 1779. On the first city maps of Tampere the streets had no names. The name ''Uusikatu'' was invented by a committee appointed in 1807 to name the streets. The name was entered into the map in the 1820s when the geographic surveyor Johan Wallenius (1765–1849) was designing a new zoning plan. Wallenius used the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic countr ...

name ''Ny Gatan'' for the street. On his map the street had grown in length to the west and reached Kortelahdenkatu (at that time named ''Brahe Lång Gatan'' or ''Brahen Pitkäkatu''). ''Uusikatu'' became the street's official name in 1868. The street was repeatedly lengthened to the west, and because of heightened fire safety after the Tampere fire of 1865 it was partly widened as a boulevard. The eastern side of the rapids was connected to Tampere from the parish of

Messukylä Messukylä ( sv, Messukylä, also ) is a former municipality of Finland which was annexed by the city of Tampere in 1947. The medieval stone church (built c. 1540) in Messukylä is the oldest building in Tampere. During the Civil War (1918), M ...

in 1877. The city architect F. L. Calonius made a town plan for the area, where the main eastern part of Satakunnankatu was the main frame street. The name of the street first appeared in the draft town plan (1879) in the form Uudensillankatu. The name Uudensillankatu was officialized in 1886. ''Uusisilta'' referred to the Satakunta Bridge, which was built only later, in 1897–1900.''Tampereen kantakaupungin rakennuskulttuuri 1998'', p. 164. The Satakunta Bridge apparently caused the decision to change Uusikatu and Uudensillankatu to Satakunnankatu in the 1907 town plan change.

Perpendicular streets from east to west

East of Tammerkoski

* Rautatienkatu * Tuomiokirkonkatu *

Aleksanterinkatu Aleksanterinkatu ( sv, Alexandersgatan; "Alexander Street") is a street in Kluuvi, the commercial centre of Helsinki, Finland. In the city plan by Carl Ludvig Engel, it was the ''Decumanus Maximus'', the main east–west street in the city, cross ...

* Pellavatehtaankatu (to the right) / Rongankatu (to the left)

West of Tammerkoski

* Itäinenkatu (to the right from the Finlayson gate) / Aleksis Kiven katu (to the left) * Kuninkaankatu * Näsilinnankatu *

Perpendicular streets from east to west

East of Tammerkoski

West of Tammerkoski

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