Siilinjärvi () 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 ...

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 ...

. It is located in

Northern Savonia North Savo (or Northern Savonia; fi, Pohjois-Savo; sv, Norra Savolax) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of South Savo, Central Finland, North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, and North Karelia. Kuopio is the largest city in the r ...

, north of the city of

Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cu ...

, which largely surrounds Siilinjärvi. Another neighbour municipality with Kuopio is

Lapinlahti Lapinlahti (; sv, Lapinlahti, also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Northern Savonia region, located north of the city of Kuopio. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The popu ...

. The name, in Finnish, apparently translates literally as "Hedgehog's Lake", although its etymology actually stems from a

Sámi The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Ru ...

word meaning winter dwelling. Lakes are essential part of the geography of Siilinjärvi. There are 123 lakes, and the biggest of them are

Kallavesi Kallavesi is a medium-sized lake in Northern Savonia, eastern Finland located around the town of Kuopio. Combined with the lakes Suvasvesi, Juurusvesi–Akonvesi, Muuruvesi, Melavesi, and Riistavesi Kallavesi forms an lake system named Iso ...

and

Juurusvesi–Akonvesi Juurusvesi–Akonvesi is a lake in 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, ...

. Water area is 106.85 km², which is 21% of the whole area of Siilinjärvi. The median age is relatively low; 23% of the population are under 15 years old. Siilinjärvi has eleven

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s and two

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s (one is located in Suininlahti and one downtown). The Kuopio Airport is located in the village of Rissala in Siilinjärvi along the Highway 9. The airport is also the home of the

Karelian Air Command The Karelia Air Command ( fi, Karjalan lennosto, abbr. ''KarLsto''; sv, Karelens flygflottilj) is the peace-time Finnish Air Force unit responsible for the protection of the airspace of Eastern and South-Eastern Finland. In spite of its name, the ...

and the 31st Squadron of the

Finnish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment = 159 , equipment_label ...

. Siilinjärvi is the birthplace of politician and former

prime minister of Finland The prime minister of Finland ( fi, Suomen pääministeri; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and their cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally ranked third in the protocol ...

and

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously Prime Minister of Finland f ...

Economy

The main sources of income are services and industry. One of the most important employers in Siilinjärvi is Siilinjärvi apatite mine owned by

Yara International Yara International ASA is a Norwegian chemical company. It produces, distributes, and sells nitrogen-based mineral fertilizers and related industrial products. Its product line also includes phosphate and potash-based mineral fertilizers, as well ...

. The other largest companies in Siilinjärvi are

's factory and apatite mine, Lujabetoni Oy, Hydroline Oy, Recreational Pool Fontanella and Spa Hotel Kunnonpaikka. 5% of jobs are in primary production, 29% in industry and construction and 66% in services. Unemployment figures are the lowest in North Savonia, averaging 9,4% in 2016, while at the same time the average unemployment rate in North Savonia was 13,4% and in the whole country 13,2%. Siilinjärvi's

income tax rate Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...

in 2017 was 21,25.

Services

Energy production and water supply

The use of

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating ...

has increased in recent years. Most of the district heat is produced from the Yara plant's process

waste heat Waste heat is heat that is produced by a machine, or other process that uses energy, as a byproduct of doing work. All such processes give off some waste heat as a fundamental result of the laws of thermodynamics. Waste heat has lower utilit ...

and from Savon Voima's Tiprusniemi bioheat plant. At the Tiprusniemi bioheat center, heat is produced with domestic

wood fuel Wood fuel (or fuelwood) is a fuel such as firewood, charcoal, Woodchips, chips, sheets, wood pellets, pellets, and sawdust. The particular form used depends upon factors such as source, quantity, quality and application. In many areas, wood is ...

. In addition, Sulkavantie has a LPG back-up and peak heating center. In Siilinjärvi,

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

is used as

raw water Raw water is water found in the environment that has not been treated and does not have any of its minerals, ions, particles, bacteria, or parasites removed. Raw water includes rainwater, ground water, water from infiltration wells, and water fro ...

, which is obtained from three groundwater intakes, two of which are located in the church village and one in the Toivala-Vuorela area. In addition to the municipal water supply plant, there are 15 water cooperatives in the municipality's sparsely populated areas.

Fire and rescue services

There are two

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire ...

s in the Siilinjärvi municipality, the North Savonia Rescue Department station and the Yara TPK station. Siilinjärvi's main fire station is located in Simonsalo at Sulkavantie 6, a few minutes' drive from the center of Siilinjärvi. The station has a 24-hour on-call service. Station 15 houses an inspection car PS 020, a fire truck PS 151, a fire truck PS 1512, a tank truck PS 153, a crew transport, an off-road and boat tractor PS 157, and a snowmobile and boat. Yara TPK has a fire truck PS 191 and a boat. In addition, it has been proposed to build a third fire station in Siilinjärvi near the Vuorela residential area.

Culture

A local

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

called ''Uutis-Jousi'' is published in Siilinjärvi. Siilinjärvi also has its own library.

Food

In the 1980s, each of Savonia's then municipalities voted for its own title dishes. The traditional food of Siilinjärvi was a cockscomb, a

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

gruel Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye, or rice—heated or boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk rather than eaten. Historically, gruel has been a ...

and a red

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, rasp ...

kissel with

whipped cream Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, an ...

Notable people

Katri-Helena Eskelinen Katri-Helena Eskelinen (8 April 1925 – 14 July 2014) was a Finnish politician. She represented Northern Savonia (electoral district), Kuopio in the Parliament of Finland from 1966 to 1987 as a member of the Centre Party (Finland), Centre Party. ...

(1925–2014), Finnish politician * Jessica Grabowsky (born 1980), Finnish actress *

Ilkka Herola Ilkka Herola (born 22 June 1995) is a Finnish nordic combined skier. He competed at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2013 The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2013 took place between 20 February and 3 March 2013 in Val di Fiemme, Ita ...

(born 1995), Finnish skier *

(born 1971), Finnish politician * Sanni Leinonen (born 1989), Finnish alpine skier * MC Raaka Pee (born 1980), Finnish musician * Topi Piipponen (born 1997), Finnish professional ice hockey player * Kimmo Savolainen (born 1974), Finnish ski jumper

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Siilinjärvi is twinned with: * Sunne, Sweden *

Elverum is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Elverum. Other settlements in the municipality include Heradsbygd, Sørskog ...

, Norway *

Haslev Haslev, the largest town in Faxe municipality, lies in the southern part of Zealand, Denmark. About from Copenhagen, it has a population of 12,119 (1 January 2022).

, Denmark * Hajdúböszörmény, Hungary *

Kamennogorsk Kamennogorsk (russian: Каменного́рск; known before 1948 by the Finnish name of Antrea (russian: А́нтреа; sv, S:t Andree)), is a town in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus on the le ...

, Russia *

Amberg Amberg () is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate, roughly halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. In 2020, over 42,000 people lived in the town. History The town was first mentioned in 1034, at that time under ...

, Germany

References

External links

Municipality of Siilinjärvi
– Official website

Tarina Golf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siilinjarvi Mining towns in Finland Populated places established in 1925