Kempele is a municipality south of the city of Oulu and south of the

Oulu Airport Oulu Airport (; fi, Oulun lentoasema, sv, Uleåborgs flygplats) is located in Oulu, Finland, south-west of the city centre. The airport is the second busiest in Finland after Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, as measured by the number of passengers (ca ...

in Northern

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 ...

. Historically it was in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Oulu, but today it is in the region of

Northern Ostrobothnia North Ostrobothnia ( fi, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa; sv, Norra Österbotten) is a region of Finland. It borders the Finnish regions of Lapland, Kainuu, North Savo, Central Finland and Central Ostrobothnia, as well as the Russian Republic of Karelia. ...

. The population of Kempele is () and the municipality covers an area of (excluding sea), of which is inland waters (). The population density is (). The municipality of Kempele was founded in 1867. Kempele is the birthplace of former NHL goaltender

Pekka Rinne Pekka Rinne (; born 3 November 1982) is a Finnish former professional hockey goaltender. Drafted by the Nashville Predators in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Rinne became their starting goaltender during the 2008–09 season and quickly established ...

. The neighbouring municipalities are

Liminka Liminka ( sv, Limingo) is a municipality in the Northern Ostrobothnia region in Finland. Liminka is located about south of Oulu. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The n ...

, Oulu and

Tyrnävä Tyrnävä () is a municipality in the North Ostrobothnia region of Finland with a population of (). It covers an area of , of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The city of Oulu is located about ...

History

Kempele was first permanently settled about 500 years ago, at a time when the coastline was closer than it is today. Kempele was considered part of Greater

and consisted of only three houses in 1568, when it was called Kempele for the first time in official records. In 1774 full church privileges were granted to Kempele, which meant separation from

and establishment as an autonomous parish. The municipal government was established in 1867.

Sights

The old church of Kempele, which was built between 1688 and 1691, is one of the oldest wooden churches in Finland. Kempele was granted the right to build a prayer room in 1688, but parishioners decided to construct a church with a steeple. Given the custom of burying local notables under the church, there are about 150 graves in the crypt, the last of them dating from 1796. The church includes decorations by the noted Finnish painter

Mikael Toppelius Mikael Toppelius (10 August 1734, Oulu – 27 December 1821, Oulu) was a Finnish church painter; the last significant representative of the Ostrobothnian church painting tradition. His grandson was the well-known writer, Zachris Topelius. Biog ...

. The old church ceased to be in active use after a new church was built next to it in the 1990s, but some events are still held in it from time to time. Kempele may be best known for being the headquarters of the world-famous

heart rate monitor A heart rate monitor (HRM) is a personal monitoring device that allows one to measure/display heart rate in real time or record the heart rate for later study. It is largely used to gather heart rate data while performing various types of phy ...

corporation

Polar Electro Polar Electro Oy (globally known as Polar) is a manufacturer of sports training computers, particularly known for developing the world's first wireless heart rate monitor. The company is based in Kempele, Finland and was founded in 1977. Polar h ...

, which first brought the device to market in 1978.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Elva Elva may refer to: Places *Elva, Estonia, town in Tartu County, Estonia *Elva Parish, municipality in Estonia *Elva (river), a river in Estonia *Elva, Illinois, unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States *Elva, Manitoba, u ...

, Estonia

References

External links