Orimattila () is a town in Päijänne Tavastia

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 ...

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 Bot ...

. The southern part of

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 ...

is connected to the village of Orimattila, which is located in the region of Pennala. There are also several municipalities in the area, such as Iitti, Kärkölä,

, Mäntsälä, and Pukkila. Orimattila has a population of (), and it covers an area of 310.29 square kilometers. Its area of land is 28.87 square kilometers, which is filled with water. The municipality is also unilingually Finnish. Its per-capita population is around 20.14. The subject of 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 Orimattila, "a stallion horse carrying a

scythe A scythe ( ) is an agriculture, agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or Harvest, harvesting Crop, crops. It is historically used to cut down or reaping, reap edible grain, grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely ...

", refers to both the name of the municipality and 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 name itself comes from a house called ''Orhimattila'', hosted by Henrich Mattzsson Orhimattila, which was already written in a 1573 book of judgment. The coat of arms was designed by Ahti Hammar and approved by the Orimattila Municipal Council at its meeting on September 15, 1956. 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 ...

approved the use of the coat of arms on December 17 of the same year.; Results of the 2021 Finnish municipal elections, resulted in the True Finns being the largest group on Orimattila council, in Orimattila.

History

The area of Orimattila contains Finland's oldest known settlement. Orimattila gets its name from a local farm, established by ''Matti Laurinpoika'' in 1539. His estate was known as ''Orih-Mattila''. As a village, Orimattila was first mentioned in 1561 as ''Orihmattila''. A chapel community was established in the late 1500s, and it became an independent parish after it was separated from the neighboring parish of Hollola in 1636. The parish and its main settlement were still known as ''Orihmattila'' until the 19th century. ''Orih'' is an older pronunciation of the word ''ori'' meaning "stallion", though the loss of the h in place names was prevented by the element after it, in this case ''-mattila'' (cf. Orivesi, also called ''Orihvesi'' until the 19th century). During the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...

, which was caused by the Russian occupation of

, the parishes of Orimattila and Hollola were temporarily united. The following year, the bishop of Orimattila was forced to collect taxes from the neighboring parish of Hollola, which was then taken over by the bishop of

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

. Many immigrants from the Kirvu region were settled in Orimattila as a result of the Continuation War. Orimattila became a town in 1992. In 2009, the municipality decided not to participate in the merger negotiations between the municipalities of Artjärvi and Orimattila, and on March 22, 2010, the two municipalities merged.

Population trends

The following diagram shows the city's population development over the past five years. The region where the city is located is used according to the situation on January 1, 2017.

Famous people

Culture * Selma Anttila, Writer * Roni Back, YouTuber * Miklu, Ex-YouTuber, Musician, Writer * Kaj Chydenius, a composer, is staying in the village * Eero Erkko, Member of Parliament 1907–1918, newspaperman * J. H. Erkko, poet * Eki Jantunen, musician * Aki Kaurismäki, film director * Mika Kaurismäki, film director * Jukka Lehtinen, sculptor * Paavo Melander, composer/lyricist *

Pentti Papinaho Pentti Papinaho (2 June 1926 — 8 March 1992) was a Finnish sculptor especially known for his public works featuring military, patriotic or religious themes, active particularly in the Tavastia region of Finland. Education Papinaho studied ...

, sculptor * Annika Siltaniemi, Tenavatähti winner * Helmi Vuorelma, founder of the weaving company Athletes * Taito Haara, power and weight lifter * Kristiina Mäkelä, triple jumper * Satu Mäkelä-Nummela, Olympic shooting gold medalist (women's trap) Other famous people * Yvonne de Bruyn, Miss Finland * Vesa-Matti Peltola, sports expert * Oskari Rajanen, sales advisor

Twin towns — Sister cities

Orimattila is twinned with: * Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen, Germany * Östhammar, Sweden * Jõgeva, Estonia *

Valka Valka (; german: Walk) is a town and municipality in northern Latvia, on the border with Estonia along both banks of the river Pedele. Valka and the Estonian town Valga are twins, separated by the Estonian/Latvian border but using the slogan "O ...

, Latvia

References

External links