Siilinjärvi () 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, 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 in

Northern Savonia North Savo (or Northern Savonia; ; ) is a Regions of Finland, 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 region and Kallavesi, ...

, north of the city of

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

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

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

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

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

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 ...

and

Juurusvesi–Akonvesi Juurusvesi–Akonvesi is a lake in Finland. It consists of two basins, Juurusvesi in west and Akonvesi in east. The town of Siilinjärvi is located on the western extremity of Juurusvesi. Kuopio Airport is located on a peninsula jutting into Juur ...

. Water area is 106.85 km², which is 21% of the whole area of Siilinjärvi. The

median age A population pyramid (age structure diagram) or "age-sex pyramid" is a graphical illustration of the distribution of a population (typically that of a country or region of the world) by age groups and sex; it typically takes the shape of a pyramid ...

is relatively low; 23% of the population are under 15 years old. Siilinjärvi has eleven

elementary 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 ...

s and two

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s (one is located in Suininlahti and one downtown). The

Kuopio Airport Kuopio Airport is an airport in Rissala, Siilinjärvi, Finland, about north of Kuopio city centre. It is the fifth busiest airport in Finland, as measured by the number of passengers, approximately 235,000 in 2017. History Kuopio Airport w ...

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 Wing (, abbr. ''KarLsto''; ) 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 headquarters of the air wing is not located in th ...

and the 31st Squadron of the

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air ...

. Siilinjärvi is the birthplace of politician and former

prime minister of Finland The prime minister of Finland (; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and his or her cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally ranked third in the protocol after the president ...

and European Commissioner

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

service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...

s and

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

. 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 we ...

. 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 An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

in 2017 was 21,25.

Services

Energy production and water supply

The use of

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) 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 heater, space heating and w ...

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 utility ...

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 th ...

. 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 fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

is used as

raw water Raw water is water found in the environment that has not been water treatment, 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 ...

, 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 apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equ ...

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 literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

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 tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

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 of berries in the cul ...

kissel Kissel or kisel is a simple dish with the consistency of a thick gel, and made of sweet fruit, berry, grains (oatmeal, rye, wheat), peas, or from milk. It belongs to the group of cold- solidified desserts, although it can be served warm. Etymolo ...

with

whipped cream Whipped cream, also known as Chantilly cream or (), is high-fat dairy cream that has been aerated by whisking until it becomes light, fluffy, and capable of holding its shape. This process incorporates air into the cream, creating a semi-soli ...

Notable people

Katri-Helena Eskelinen Katri-Helena Eskelinen (8 April 1925 – 14 July 2014) was a Finnish politician. She represented Kuopio in the Parliament of Finland from 1966 to 1987 as a member of the Centre Party. She was also the second minister of social affairs and healt ...

(1925–2014), Finnish politician *

Jessica Grabowsky Jessica Grabowsky (born 8 April 1980) is a Finnish actress. She was nominated for the Jussi Award in the category of Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the 2011 film ''Missä kuljimme kerran''. In 2014, she was nominated a sec ...

(born 1980), Finnish actress * Ilkka Herola (born 1995), Finnish skier *

(born 1971), Finnish politician * Sanni Leinonen (born 1989), Finnish alpine skier *

Eetu Luostarinen Eetu Luostarinen (born 2 September 1998) is a Finnish professional ice hockey center for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted in the second round, 42nd overall, by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2017 NHL entr ...

(born 1998), Finnish ice hockey player * MC Raaka Pee (born 1980), Finnish musician * Topi Piipponen (born 1997), Finnish professional ice hockey player * Kimmo Savolainen (born 1974), Finnish ski jumper * Sexmane (born 2000), Finnish musician

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Siilinjärvi is twinned with: * Sunne, Sweden *

Elverum Elverum () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Elverum ( ...

, Norway *

Haslev Haslev is a railway town in the southern part of the island of Zealand, Denmark, located about southwest of Copenhagen. It has a population of 12,634 (1 January 2025), and is the largest town and municipal seat of Faxe Municipality in Region Z ...

, Denmark *

Hajdúböszörmény Hajdúböszörmény is a town in northeastern Hungary with a population of approximately 30,000 people. History It is also home to one of the faculties of the University of Debrecen. It has a unique circular plan (like Paris) to the streets that ...

, Hungary *

Kamennogorsk Kamennogorsk (; known before 1948 by the Finnish name of Antrea (; )), is a town in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus on the left bank of the Vuoksi River (Lake Ladoga's basin) northwest of St.&nb ...

, Russia *

Amberg Amberg () is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate about halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. History The town was first mentioned in 1034 with the name Ammenberg. It became an important trading c ...

, Germany

References

External links

Municipality of Siilinjärvi
– Official website
Kasurila ski resort

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