Sorsapuisto (

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 ...

for "duck park") is a refreshment area of 4.2 hectares in Tulli,

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

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 ...

, completed in the 1930s. In 1990 the

Tampere Hall sv, Tammerforshuset , image = Tampere-talo panorama 2014.jpg , caption = Tampere Hall in June 2014 , former_names = , building_type = , architectural_style = Postmodernism , structural_system = , ...

was built in the south corner of the park and the whole park was renovated. From 1964 to 1972 the site of the Tampere Hall hosted the Tampere zoo featuring the

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

s Tam and Pere.

Sorsapuisto in the past

Still in the early 20th century the site of the Sorsapuisto park was full of potato fields and a small modest spring, which burst into a small pond, in 1902 or 1903 according to contemporary witness John Tammela. The pond was called Tammelanlammi.Hilden, Juhani: ''Kaikkien aikojen Kaleva.'' Tampere: Tampere Society, 1996. Wacklin, Matti: ''Tammela. Tarinoita torin kulmilta.'' City of Tampere, 2008. The Lähteenkatu ("spring street") street near Sorsapuisto was named after the spring previously located at the site of the Tammelanlammi pond.Louhivaara, Maija: ''Tampereen kadunnimet.'' Tampere: Publications of Tampere museums 51, 1999. . Only in the early 1930s was a refreshment park built around the Tammelanlammi pond as work for the unemployed. Tame ducks were introduced to the Tammelanlampi pond in the 1930s, and the pond was thus called Sorsalammi ("duck pond").

Sorsapuisto in the present

In the middle of Sorsapuisto is a small pond which is popular among birds. As well as ducks, birds frequenting the pond include geese and swans, which the park department of the city acquired to the pond since 1939. Bird cages around the pond also contain

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

s and various

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

species. There is a small island in the middle of the pond. In 2012, the city sold the birds to the Peikkorinne avian farm in

Askola Askola () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Monninkylä is the largest village of municipality in ter ...

and rents them to Sorsapuisto in summertime. Previously the birds used to spend the winter in the Hatanpää avian farm. Throughout the decades, the park has been popular among families with children because of its diverse selection of play equipment. The play areas are located all around the park. The area previously hosted a children's

traffic park A traffic park or children's traffic park is a park in which children can learn the rules of the road. A traffic park is also called a ''transportation park'' or traffic garden or ''safety village'' depending on locale. Traffic parks are frequentl ...

founded in 1956 and a waddling pool with a water slide. The traffic park was moved to

Kaleva Kaleva or Kalevi may refer to: * CWT Kaleva Travel, a travel management company based in Finland * Kalevi (mythology) Kaleva – also known as Kalevi or Kalev – and his sons are important heroic figures in Estonian, Finnish and Karelian mytho ...

in the late 1980s. There are buildings representing architecture from various eras around the park. As well as the Tampere Hall, significant buildings include Lähteenlinna ( E. A. Liuha 1928), Sorsapuistontalo (

Jaakko Tähtinen Jaakko Tähtinen (1904–1970) was a Finnish architect based in Tampere, a large city in southern Finland. He established the Tähtinen architectural practice and designed both residential and commercial buildings in Tampere and also in other citi ...

1937) and the Kaleva high school (previously known as the Kaleva school, Jaakko Ilveskoski 1955).Keskinen, Jouni; Peltola, Jarmo; Suodenjoki, Sami: ''Tamperelaiset. Tehdaskaupungin väestö, alue ja asuminen 1918–1940.'' Tampere: Publications of Tampere museums 79, 2005. .

References

External links

*
Eila Siitarinen (ed.): Tampereen puistot 125 v; p. 14; Park department of the city of Tampere, 1999
* Suodenjoki, Sami

at the Koskesta voimaa site
An aerial panorama over Sorsapuisto seen over the Tampere Hall

Tampereelle järjestetty uusi puistoalue
''

Suomen Kuvalehti ''Suomen Kuvalehti'' (lit. "Finland's picture magazine", or "The Finnish picture magazine") is a weekly Finnish language family and news magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''Suomen Kuvalehti'' was founded in 1873 and pu ...

'' 2 December 1933, issue 49, p. 27. {{coord, 61, 29, 48, N, 23, 46, 54, E, region:FI, display=title Parks in Tampere