Mäntyharju (, literally 'Pine Ridge') is a

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

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 Bo ...

. It is located in the Southern Savonia

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 and t ...

. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The coastline is almost . The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

is 6.2 inhabitants per km². Neighbouring municipalities: Heinola, Hirvensalmi,

Kouvola Kouvola () is a city and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki River in the region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lappeenranta and northeast of the capital, Helsinki. With Kotka, Kouvola is ...

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; sv, S:t Michel; la, Michaelia) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Etelä-Savo region. The municipality has a population of () (around 34,000 ...

, Pertunmaa and

Savitaipale Savitaipale (; literally translated the "clay passage") is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . T ...

. The summer houses or cottages located in the countryside are part of the

culture of Finland The culture of Finland combines indigenous heritage, as represented for example by the country's national languages Finnish (a Uralic language) and Swedish (a Germanic language), the sauna, with common Nordic and European cultural aspects ...

where most Finnish families spend their summer holidays. Mäntyharju is the municipality which has the fifth most summer houses in Finland.Statistics Finland
/ref> Some of the reasons for Mäntyharju's popularity involve its many pure

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much lar ...

s and a relatively short distance to the Finnish capital

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 ...

of approximately 200 kilometres by car. The municipality also has a direct, high-speed train connection to the capital area. Because of the many summer houses, the population of Mäntyharju more than triples during the most popular summer holiday times.

Art Centre Salmela Art Centre Salmela is an art centre in Mäntyharju, Finland. It produces every year a multicultural program of art exhibitions, concerts and lectures. It also organizes the Merikanto Singing Competition every fourth year. It is included to Finlan ...

in Mäntyharju hosts one of Finland's largest cultural events in July–August. The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Notable people

* Antti Häkkänen (b. 1985), former Minister of Justice of Finland 2017-2019 * Antti Jaatinen (b. 1987), ice hockey player * Sami Savio - (b. 1975) Politician * Edward Vesala (1945–1999), Finnish avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader and drummer.

References

External links

Municipality of Mäntyharju
– Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Mantyharju Populated places established in 1595

Notable people

See also

References

External links