The Puijo tower is an

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and ...

at the top of Puijo hill in

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 cult ...

, Eastern Finland. Opened in 1963, the tower is tall and has a

revolving restaurant A revolving restaurant or rotating restaurant is usually a tower restaurant eating space designed to rest atop a broad circular revolving platform that operates as a large turntable. The building remains stationary and the diners are carried on ...

with 100 seats. It was the first tower with a revolving restaurant in the Nordic countries. The restaurant was an inspiration to Erkki Lindfors, the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...

, who got the idea to build a similar one in his home town, resulting in the Näsinneula tower, which opened in 1971. The current Puijo tower has been visited by over 5.5 million tourists. The current tower is the third overall. When it was completed on 27 July 1963, the second one, built in 1906, was dismantled. The first tower was built in 1856. On the western side of the tower there are three

ski jumping hills A ski jumping hill is a sports venue used for ski jumping. They vary in size from temporary handmade snow structures to permanent competition venues. At the top is an in-run where the jumper runs down to generate sufficient speed, before reachin ...

Gallery

File:Puijo2.jpg, The first Puijo tower, 1893 File:Old Puijo tower.jpeg, The second Puijo tower, built in 1900 File:Puijo 1963 adjusted.jpg, Both the second and third Puijo towers in 1963. The new tower had just been completed and the old was to be dismantled. File:Kuopio, Finland from Puijo tower.jpg, View of central Kuopio from the tower, 2003 File:Puijo (2008-06-11) All Hills (2).jpg, The

and Puijo tower, 2008 File:Puijon mäki.JPG, Puijo hill and the tower pictured from

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-Kalla. ...

lake, 2005

References

External links

*
Puijo Tower
– Official website (in Finnish, English and Russian) {{Kuopio Cityscape Towers completed in 1963 Observation towers in Finland Kuopio Towers with revolving restaurants Buildings and structures in North Savo Tourist attractions in North Savo