Mäntsälä () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

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 out ...

Southern Finland Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History ...

, and is part of the

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. It has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Mäntsälä is one of three municipalities in the

region that do not have a Swedish name; the others are

Nurmijärvi Nurmijärvi () is the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...

and Askola. Mäntsälä lies about north of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, the capital of Finland. During the last few years, the population of Mäntsälä has been one of the most rapidly increasing in Finland. A new railway, the Kerava–Lahti railway line, was built between

Kerava Kerava (; sv, Kervo) is a town and municipality within the Uusimaa region of Finland. The municipalities of Vantaa, Sipoo and Tuusula are adjacent to Kerava, which is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The town has a population of () ...

and

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

with passenger traffic starting on 4 September 2006 from Mäntsälä railway station. Helsinki is about 40 minutes away, and Lahti even closer. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of Mäntsälä has its theme in the region's traditional livelihoods; the head of the

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

refers to the hunting lands of the region, and the

clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

s symbolizes local

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

. The coat of arms was designed by Olof Eriksson and approved by the Mäntsälä Municipal Council on 16 December 1950. The coat of arms was officially approved by the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

on 20 February 1951.

History

Mäntsälä is considered to have been founded in 1585, when the community's first church was built. The current church was completed in 1866 after delay. The

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

affected also Mäntsälä: funds for building the church were spent on war efforts. All of the churches were located on Kirkonmäki ("Church Hill") at about the same spot. The first common school was founded in 1870 by way of a testament of clergyman Abraham Ehnroos. To his credit is the founding of a public library already in 1840. An intermediate school was not founded until 1945 with a high school following in 1954, previously facilities in

Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieva ...

Järvenpää Järvenpää (; sv, Träskända) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located on the Helsinki–Riihimäki railway track in Uusimaa region, some north of Helsinki. Neighbouring municipalities are Tuusula, Sipoo and Mäntsälä. People ...

and Helsinki were used. In 1854 the first town hall was built on Kirkonmäki. Today a museum is operating in the building, having also served as a morgue, school kitchen and lesson space, and a dormitory. It is deteriorating severely and the museum is only opened upon request. The second town hall was built in 1935, also on Kirkonmäki. It served until the completion of the present town hall in 1992. Now it houses an open college. There is a total of 15 manors in Mäntsälä, 4 of which are open to the public, the rest being private residences. Russian czar

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of A ...

visited as guest of Ulla Möllersvärd in 1809 in the Mäntsälä manor lying in the town center. The manors emerged in the 17th century as noblemen feoffs. Traditionally the land belonged to the manors. There were many crofts in Mäntsälä and new legislation in 1918 enabled the crofters to claim the land for themselves. In the 1920s the manors were still a sizable land owner in the parish. Mäntsälä is especially known for the

Mäntsälä rebellion The Mäntsälä rebellion ( fi, Mäntsälän kapina, ) was a failed coup attempt by the Lapua Movement to overthrow the Finnish government. On 27 February 1932 some 400 armed members of the '' Suojeluskunta'' militia interrupted a meeting o ...

. About 400 civil guards went shooting to a Social Democratic party rally at Ohkola community hall, interrupting it. In the course of a few days leaders of Lapua Movement and armed civil guards from all over the country arrived to Mäntsälä. The government ordered them arrested, and after a speech by president Svinhufvud on 2 March the situation gradually settled down. The movement disbanded early in spring.

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

brought about 2000 refugees evacuated from Karelia to Mäntsälä. They came mainly from Kirvu and Koivisto. Land was cut from the manors again for the arrivals, reducing manor estate considerably. In 1985 a museum about the Kirvu parish was opened next to the church in the city center. In 1992 an apartment trade fair was held in Mäntsälä. The area is being expanded and since 2006, a train depot lies next to it. A discount chain

Tokmanni Tokmanni Group Oyj is a Finnish retail chain, which is also the largest discount store chain in Finland in terms of net sales in 2019. Tokmanni is Finland's only nationwide discount store chain, and at the end of 2019 it had almost 200 stores aroun ...

's head office, logistics center and warehouse, founded in 1989, are in Mäntsälä. Also, Yandex built one of its

data center A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommun ...

s in Mäntsälä in 2015, with a second data center expected to be built in 2020 by Lehto.

Demographics

The population of Mäntsälä has stayed quite level for decades, but the building of a motorway up to Järvenpää in the 1970s and the extension to Lahti in 1999 have brought new residents from the metropolitan area. By the middle of the 2000s the new railroad to Lahti has been central in municipality population growth. Many people moved to Mäntsälä because of the railroad, that offered quick commuting to Helsinki. * 1749: 1,492 (unconfirmed) * 1898: 7,972 (unconfirmed) * 1920: 7,666 * 1930: 7,844 * 1940: 7,739 * 1950: 11,072 * 1960: 10,932 * 1970: 10,166 * 1980: 11,267 * 1990: 14,793 * 2000: 16,628 * 2005: 18,226 * 2007: 18,980 * 2010: 19 975 * 2012: 20 478

Urban areas

Table of the all statistical urban areas of the municipality. The administrative centre is in bold. The Helsinki urban area, marked with an asterisk (*), belongs to this municipality only partially, as it extends not only to Mäntsälä but also to the area of several neighboring municipalities of Helsinki.

Politics

Results of the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election in Mäntsälä: * Finns Party 23.4% *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

21.1% * National Coalition Party 16.2% * Centre Party 14.7% *

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the pol ...

7.8% * Movement Now 4.6% * Left Alliance 3.9% *

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

2.9% * Blue Reform 1.9% *Other parties 3.4%

Notable people

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld is considered to be originally from Mäntsälä, having spent his early youth on the family estate in the Numminen village, although he was born in Helsinki and lived also in Sweden. Nordenskiöld was a nineteenth-century geologist and Arctic explorer. Others include member of

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish hard rock/ heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster ma ...

-band Jussi Sydänmaa alias "Amen", and former defence minister Elisabeth Rehn in her youth.

References

External links

Municipality of Mäntsälä
– Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mantsala Greater Helsinki