Pispala is a

city area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

2.5 km from the centre of

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It is located on the northern slope of Pispalanharju, the highest

esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Amer ...

in Finland. Together with Pyynikki, Pispala is widely considered the most beautiful area of Tampere and

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

s are often guided there for the view and the unique urban design features of the area. A monument to the Finnish poet Lauri Viita is located near the highest point of the ridge and there is a famous landmark in the area called the

Shot tower A shot tower is a tower designed for the production of small-diameter shot balls by free fall of molten lead, which is then caught in a water basin. The shot is primarily used for projectiles in shotguns, and for ballast, radiation shielding, ...

().

History

Pispala is named after the ''House of Pispa'', which had the obligation to house the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s during their travel. It was first mentioned in 1492. Pispala was a rural area until as recently as 1869, at the time there were only two farms in the area: Pispala and Provasti. As Tampere was industrialised, Pispala grew without a unified local development plan, resulting in unique building styles and solutions. Ratakatu 5 in Tampere Aug2008 001

Specifically factory and construction workers resided there with most of them being originally from Tampere or the nearby areas such as Ostrobothnia. Pispala was a part of

Pirkkala Pirkkala (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the Pirkanmaa region. It lies to the southwest of the regional capital, Tampere. The population of Pirkkala is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . I ...

until 1922, when it was divided into Pohjois-Pirkkala and Etelä-Pirkkala. Pispala was a part of Pohjois-Pirkkala until it was transferred to Tampere in 1937. In the next year, Pohjois-Pirkkala was renamed to

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

. It is a periurban area or urban village and many of the features of the place echo this aspect.

Neighbourhoods

Ylä-Pispala

Ylä-Pispala ("Upper Pispala") is bordered on the

Tampere–Pori railway The Tampere–Pori railway is a railway running between the cities of Tampere and Pori in Finland. The line carries passenger traffic from Tampere to Pori via five railway stations and continues as a freight line to the Port of Pori. Tampere–Po ...

in the north, Pyynikki in the east,

Tahmela Tahmela is a district in Tampere, Finland. It is located between Ylä-Pispala and Pyynikki on the shores of Lake Pyhäjärvi. There is a Varala Sports College in Tahmela. There are rental agricultural plots on the shore of Tahmela, and Kurpitsal ...

in the south and Ala-Pispala in the west. There is the Pispala School in Ylä-Pispala, where the 1st-6th grades of

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

study. The school is located near the highest point of the ridge. The Pispalan Moreeni ry association, founded in 1969, also operates in Ylä-Pispala, which owns an old shotgun factory located next to Ahjola.

Ala-Pispala

Ala-Pispala ("Lower Pispala") borders the Tampere-Pori railway in the north, Ylä-Pispala in the east, Lake Pyhäjärvi in the south and

Hyhky Hyhky ( or ''Hyhkö'') is a district in the northwestern part of Tampere, Finland. It is bordered on the north by Lielahti, on the east by Ala-Pispala, on the south by Kaarila and on the west by Epilä. The village of Hyhky, which originally belo ...

in the west. The Pispala Church, designed by architect Jaakko Ilveskoski and commissioned in 1971, is located in Ala-Pispala and is one of the three churches in the Harju Parish, which is part of the Tampere Parish Association.Harjun seurakunta – Tampereen seurakunnat
(in Finnish)

Culture of Pispala

Many well-known Finnish artists and celebrities have lived and live in Pispala. These include Lauri Viita, Olavi Virta, Mikko Alatalo,

Hannu Salama Hannu Sulo Salama (born 4 October 1936), also known by his pen name Aki Rautala, is a Finnish author known for his working-class themes. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969 and 1973. Biography Hannu Salama was born in ...

, Seela Sella, Keith Armstrong,

Aaro Hellaakoski Aaro Hellaakoski (June 22, 1893 – November 23, 1952) was a Finnish poet whose work includes some of the earliest examples of modernism in Finnish literature. Hellaakoski was born in Oulu. By profession he was a geographer conducting studies in ...

. The only Finnish writer awarded with the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

, F. E. Sillanpää located his novel ''Hiltu ja Ragnar'' (1923) − which the author considered his best work, in Pispala. More recently it has featured as a main setting for the events in The Butterfly from Ural () animated

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

directed by Katariina Lillqvist in 2008. There are many small associations in the area and they are supported by an umbrella organization called the Pispalan kumppanuus. Pispala houses the oldest still active public sauna in Finland. Rajaportin sauna began its operation in 1906 and is currently owned by the City of Tampere. However it is run by a local Pispala Sauna Association ().Website of the Pispalan Sauna Association (english)
/ref> Pispala currently houses the Pispala Centre of Contemporary Arts at Hirvitalo which organises various events both outdoors in various places around the suburb and within their gallery situated upon "moose street," Hirvikatu. It is run by the Pispala Cultural Association Pispala Library is a community library locals founded in 2001 when the Tampere City Library closed its branch library in Pispala. It contains an anarchist bookshelf, computers and small gallery space and is involved in various community arts outreach projects. Also found in Pispala is Kurpitsatalo ("Pumpkin House") a

community gardening A community garden is a piece of land gardening, gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for thei ...

project that celebrates the cycle of the year with traditional pagan festivals, music and also has various allotments. Today Pispala has a vibrant artivist atmosphere and has much in kin with other

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

arts areas such as

Užupis Užupis (, , , ) is a neighborhood in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, largely located in Vilnius's old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Užupis means "beyond the river" or "the other side of the river" in the Lithuanian language and r ...

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

or Freetown Christiania.

References

External links

Stairs of Pispala, Webpages of the Pispala districtPispalainen local newsletterPispala Portal to associations and all things PispalainenPispalan Radio 729 kHz and 99,5 MHz broadcast from shot-tower
{{Tampere Cityscape Districts of Tampere