Pyhäjärvi () is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in southern

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, ...

. Although the name means " holy lake" in modern Finnish, it probably originally meant "border lake". Pyhäjärvi is shaped like the letter C with the cities 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 ...

and

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 ...

at the northern end, and the town of

Lempäälä Lempäälä () is a municipality in Finland, located in the Pirkanmaa region. It lies south of the regional capital, Tampere. The population of Lempäälä is approximately , while the Tampere metropolitan area, metropolitan area has a population ...

at the southern end. The lake is fed by the water running through the

Tammerkoski Tammerkoski is a channel of rapids in Tampere, Finland. The city of Tampere is located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi (Tampere region), Pyhäjärvi. The difference in altitude between these two is and the water flows from Näsij ...

rapids in the center of Tampere from the north, and by the waters from lake Vanajavesi in the south. Due to the Tammerkoski rapids, the water in Pyhäjärvi is warmer and richer in ozone than that in the northern lake, Näsijärvi, which results in the life in this lake being richer, even though the water is more polluted. A number of other lakes are also named Pyhäjärvi in Finland and its former territories.

References

External links

Kokemäenjoki basin Lakes of Tampere {{WesternFinland-geo-stub