Turku

**Turku** (;  ) is a ceety on the soothwast coast o Finland at the mooth o the Aura River, in the region o Finland Proper. Turku, as a toun, wis settled durin the 13t century an foondit maist likely at the end o the 13t century, makin hit the auldest ceety in Finland. hit quickly became the maist important ceety in Finland, a status hit retained fir hunders o years. Efter Finland became pairt o the Roushie Empire (1809) an the caipital o the Grand Duchy o Finland wis moved til Helsinki (1812), Turku continued tae be the maist populous ceety in Finland until the end o the 1840s, an hit remains a regional caipital an an important business an cultural centre.

Acause o hits lang history, hit haes been the steid o mony important events an haes extensively influenced Finnish history. Alang wi Tallinn, the caipital ceety o Estonie, Turku wis designatit the European Caipital o Cultur fir 2011. In 1996 hit wis declared the offeecial Christmas Ceety o Finland.

Due tae hits location, Turku is a notable commercial an passenger seaport wi ower three million passengers travellin throu the Port o Turku each year tae Stockholm an Mariehamn.

As o 30 September 2014, the population o Turku wis 183,811, makin hit the saxt lairgest ceety in Finland. As o 31 August 2008 thare war 303,492 indwallers livin in the Turku sub-region, rankin hit as the third lairgest urban aurie in Finland efter the Greater Helsinki aurie an Tampere sub-region. The ceety is offeecially bilingual as  percent o hits population identify Swadish as a mither-tongue.

## History
Turku haes a lang history as Finland's lairgest ceety an occasionally as the admeenistrative centre o the kintra, but fir the last twa hunder years haes been surpassed bi Helsinki. The ceety's identity stems frae hits status as the auldest ceety in Finland an the kintra's first caipital. Oreeginally, the wird "Finland" referred anly tae the aurie aroond Turku (hence the title, "Finland Proper" fir the region).

Awtho airchaeological findins in the aurie date back tae the Stane Age, the toun o Turku wis foondit in late 13t century. The Cathedral o Turku wis consecratit in 1300.

During the Middle Ages, Turku wis the seat o the Bishop o Turku (a title later upgraded tae Airchbishop o Turku), coverin the then eastren hauf o the Kinrick o Swaden (maist o the present-day Finland) until the 17t century. Even gif Turku haed no offeecial caipital status, baith the short-lived institutions o Dukes an Govrenors-General o Finland uisually haed thair Finnish residences thare. In the eftermath o the War against Sigismund, the toun wis the steid o the Åbo bloodbath. In 1640, the first varsity in Finland, The Ryal Academy o Turku, wis foondit in Turku. Turku wis an aa the meetin place fir the States o Finland in 1676.

Efter the Finnish War, which ended whan Swaden ceded Finland tae Imperial Roushie at the Treaty o Fredrikshamn in 1809, Turku acame briefly the offeecial caipital, but suin lost the status tae Helsinki, as Emperor Alexander I felt that Turku wis too far frae Roushie an too aligned wi Swaden tae serve as the caipital o the Grand Duchy o Finland.  The chynge offeecially teuk place in 1812. The govrenment offices that remained in Turku war finally moved tae the new caipital efter the Great Fire o Turku, which awmaist completely destroyed the ceety in 1827.  Efter the fire, a new an safer ceety plan wis drawn up bi German architect Carl Ludvig Engel, who haed an aa designed the new caipital, Helsinki. Turku remained the lairgest ceety in Finland fir anither twinty years.

In 1918, a new varsity, the Åbo Akademi – the anly Swadish leid varsity in Finland – wis foondit in Turku. Twa years later, the Finnish leid Varsity o Turku wis foondit alangside hit. Thir twa varsities are the seicont an third tae be foondit in Finland, baith bi private donations.

In the 20t century Turku wis cried "Finland's gateway to the West" bi historians sic as Jarmo Virmavirta. The ceety enjoyed guid connections wi ither Western European countries an ceeties, especially syne the 1940s wi Stockholm across the Gulf o Bothnie. In the 1960s, Turku became the first Wastren ceety tae sign a twinnin agreement wi Leningrad in the Soviet Union, leadin tae greater inter-cultural exchange an providin a new meanin tae the ceety's 'gateway' function. Efter the faw o Communism in Roushie, mony prominent Soviets came tae Turku tae study Western business practices , amang them Vladimir Putin, then Leningrad's deputy mayor.

As fir airchitectur in the ceety, baith the body o airchitectural styles as well as the prevalent wey o livin hae experienced significant changes in the 20t century. While haein survived relatively intact throughout the years o war 1939–1945, the ceety faced increasin changes in the 1950s an 1960s due tae risin demands fir apartments, the eagerness tae rebuild an maist o aw the new development o infrastructure (especially increased automobile traffeck). The widden ane- tae twa-story hooses that war the dominant mode o biggin in the ceety wur maistly demolished in the 1950s an 1960s tae baith enable mair efficient biggin an tae ease car traffeck. This resultit in the destruction o biggins that wis in later decades seen as beautiful an worth savin. Some individual biggins remain controversial tae this day whan hit comes tae thair demolition in the decades efter the war. fir example, the biggin o Hotel Phoenix that stood on corner o Kauppatori wis torn down tae mak wey fir a lairge, multistory apartment biggin in 1959. The biggin wis significant baith fir hits location an history: havin stood on ane o the maist valuable lots in the ceety centre syne 1878 the biggin haed fir example served as the first main biggin o the Varsity o Turku. Ither biggins whose demolition wis seen as scandalous aither already at the time o action or proved tae be sae in later years include The Nobel Hoose (subject tae the very first photograph ever taken in Finland) an the biggin o Old Hotel Börs which wis biggit in jugendstil in 1909 bi Frithiof Strandel.

## Name
The Finnish name *Turku* oreeginates frae an Old East Slavic wird, *tǔrgǔ*, meanin "market place". The wird *turku* still means "market place" in some idioms in Finnish.  The Swedish wird fir "market place" is *torg*, an wis probably borrowed frae Old East Slavic, an wis present already in Old Swedish.

The Swedish name *Åbo* mey be a semple combination o *å* ("river; creek; large stream") an *bo* ("dwellin"). As this pattern daes nae appear in ony ither Swedish place names in Finland, etymologists believe thare coud be a different explanation. Ane theory is that hit comes frae "Aabo", the Finnish rendition o the Roushie "Avram" (Abraham), which coud an aa be the origin o the name o the river Aura. Thare is houiver an auld legal term cried "åborätt" (meanin roughly "right to live at"), which gae ceetizens (cried "åbo") the inheritable right tae live at land ained bi the croun.

In Finnish, the genitive o *Turku* is ***Turun***, meanin "o Turku". The Finnish names o organisations an institutes o Turku eften begin wi this wird, as in *Turun yliopisto* fir the Varsity o Turku.

## Geografie

Locatit at the mooth o the Aura river in the soothwastren corner o Finland, Turku covers an aurie o  o land, spread ower baith banks o the river. The eastren side, whaur the Cathedral o Turku is locatit, is popularly referred tae as *täl pual jokke* ("this side o the river"), while the wastren side is referred tae as *tois pual jokke* ("the ither side o the river"). The ceety centre is locatit close tae the river mooth, on baith sides o the river, tho development haes recently been expandin wastward. 

Thare are ten brigs ower the Aura river in Turku. The auldest o the current brigs is *Auransilta*, which wis constructit in 1904. The newest brig is *Kirjastosilta* ('leebrar brig'), a pedestrian-anly brig biggit in 2013. The *Föri*, a smaw ferry that transports pedestrians an bicycles across the river wioot payment, is a weel kent featur o the ceety.

Wi a population o approximately 300,000 , the Turku Region (LAU&nbsp;1) is the third lairgest urban region in Finland, efter Greater Helsinki an the aurie aroond Tampere. The region includes, in addition tae the ceety itsel the follaein municipalities: Askainen, Kaarina, Lemu, Lieto, Masku, Merimasku, Mynämäki, Naantali, Nousiainen, Paimio, Piikkiö, Raisio, Rusko, Rymättylä, Sauvo, Vahto an Velkua.

A mair exclusive definition fir the urban aurie is the ceety region o Turku wi a population aroond 235,000 consistin o fower major municipalities Kaarina, Raisio, Naantali an Turku.

## Admeenistrative subdiveesions

The ceety is dividit intae 78 destricts an nine wards that dae nae function as local govrenment units. Thare are, houiver, some projects that are based on the destrict diveesions, pairteecularly in the eastren pairt o the ceety, whaur unemployment is heich in certaint auries. The lairgest populatit destricts are Varissuo an Runosmäki. Bi aurie, houever, Kakskerta an Paattinen, formed frae umwhile municipalities that war annexed tae the ceety proper in the mid-20t century, constitute the lairgest districts. 

As mony o the smaa neighbourin municipalities frae the north an sooth o the ceety wur annexed durin the mid-20t century, Turku is the day shaped lik an elongatit peir. The ceety centre an maist o the suburban auries lie in the middle, separatit frae the less densely populatit northren rural auries bi the Turku bypass, that forms pairt o European route E18. Islands sic as Ruissalo, Hirvensalo an Kakskerta, formin the soothren pairt o the ceety, are an aa sparsely populat itan maistly contain simmer residences, wi the exception o some destricts in Hirvensalo which are currently growin intae upper-middle-class suburbs.

## Climate

Situatit bi the Baltic Sea an sheltered bi the islands o the Archipelago Sea, Turku haes a humid continental climate. Lik much o soothren Finland, the ceety experiences warm simmers, wi temperaturs rangin up tae 30&nbsp;°C (86&nbsp;°F), an relatively cauld winters wi frequent snawfaw. The warmest month o the year is Julie, wi an average temperatur o , whauras the cauldest month is Februar. The average year-roond temperatur is . Winter uisually staorts in early December, an ware in late Mairch.

Preceepitation in Turku averages  a year. The rainiest month o the year is August, whan the ceety receives on average  o rainfaw. In Aprile, the driest month o the year, the figur is anly . The average air pressur at sea level is , wi little variance throughoot the year.

Operational syne 1955, the ceety's wather station is locatit at an altitude o 47 metres (154&nbsp;ft) at Turku Airport.

## Govrenment an politics

Bein baith a regional an provincial caipital, Turku is an important admeenistrative centre, hostin the seat o the Airchbishop o Finland an a Coort o Appeal. Aleksi Randell haes been the mayor o Turku syne 2010.

The ceety cooncil an ceety buird hae lang been dominatit bi the Social Democratic Pairty (SDP) an the Naitional Coaleetion Pairty (*Kokoomus/Samlingspartiet*), wi approximately equal representation. Currently, the cooncil haes 67 members, wi 19 frae *Kokoomus* an 14 frae SDP. The ither major pairties in the cooncil are the Green League (10 seats), the Left Alliance (9 seats) an The Finns (6 seats). The current chair o the ceety buird is Minna Arve frae *Kokoomus*.

Results o the Finnish parliamentary election, 2011 in Turku:

*Naitional Coalition Pairty   23.7%
*Social Democratic Pairty   19.4%
*True Finns   15.8%
*Left Alliance   12.7%
*Green League   11.4%
*Swedish People's Party   5.8%
*Centre Party   4.7%
*Christian Democrats   3.1%

## Transport

fir a ceety o hits size, Turku haes a moderate public transport network o bus routes, which is comparable tae bus network o seemilar-sized Tampere. The bus network is managed an supervised bi the *Ceety o Turku Public Transport Office* (, ), an is operatit mainly bi private companies.  Regional buses are operatit bi private companies, maist importantly TLO, wi very frequent services especially tae the neighbourin ceeties o Naantali, Raisio, an Kaarina.

Rail traffeck tae an frae Turku is handled bi the Finnish naitional carrier, VR. The nummer o services haes fallen an anly the railways towards Tampere an Helsinki are nou in uise. The railway stations currently uised fir passenger traffeck are the Turku Central railway station in Pohjola, an twa smawer stations in Kupittaa an the Port o Turku.

Thare is no local rail traffeck at the moment, as the ceety's popular tram services war discontinued in 1972, an the various local railway lines tae neighbourin towns an municipalities war aw abolished during the late 20t century.  Houever, thare are plans fir a licht rail seestem in the Turku region in the near future. This seestem wad mair ably serve major suburbs o the ceety sic as Varissuo an Runosmäki, as well as the neighbourin ceeties.

The State o Finland haes annoonced plans tae support Espoo wi 30% o full expenses on a new metro rail, the Regional Cooncil o Soothwast Finland is gangin tae uise this as a test case fir a new licht rail network in Turku.:

The Turku Bus Station an the Turku Central Railway Station are currently locatit in different places. The Ceety o Turku is plannin tae combine thir twa in a new greater station complex in the near future. This new traivel centre will conseest o a hotel an several shoppin estates. This centre will connect aw public transportation frae commuter trains tae lang distance buses.

Turku Airport is locatit  tae the north o the ceety centre, partly in the neighbourin municipality o Rusko.

Thare are an aa daily ferry services frae the Port o Turku tae Swaden an the Åland Islands, operatit i Silja Line, Viking Line an SeaWind Line. Thir are something o a Finnish cultural tradeetion (see ruotsinlaiva), an fowk eften traivel lang distances across Finland tae Turku juist tae tak a cruise across the Gulf o Bothnie.

The archipelago sea boat traffeck is handled bi, amang others, S/S Ukkopekka, an auld steamship that cruises on the route Turku-Naantali-Turku.

Turku is the anly ceety in Finland tae hae three lang-distance railway stations: Turku Central, Port o Turku, an Kupittaa.

## Demographics

At the end o 2004 the Turku region (includin the economic destricts o Turku an Åboland) haed a population o 319,632, oot o which 174,824 fowk lived in the ceety o Turku. The ceety's population density is 718 indwallers per square kilometre.

89.4% o Turku's population speak Finnish as thair Roushie (1.3%), Arabic (0.6%), Albanie (0.5%). 95.8% o the population are Finnish ceetizens, an the maist sizeable minorities are frae Roushie, Estonia, Iraq, an Iran. Lik aw ither Finnish ceeties, Turku daes nae collect information aboot the ethnic an releegious makeup o hits population.

## Notable fowk
Famous fowk frae the ceety o Turku include:
*Paavo Nurmi, The Flying Finn, a Finnish 9 time Olympic Champion in lang-distance runnin
*Mauno Koivisto, the 9t Preses o Finland
*Matti Salminen, a Finnish bass sangster
*Johan Gadolin, a Finnish chemist, physicist an mineralogist
*Herman Spöring, a Finnish explorer an botanist
*Miikka Kiprusoff, a Finnish umwhile professional ice hockey goalkeeper who played in Calgary Flames an San Jose Sharks during his NHL career
*Christina Krook (1742-1806), educator
*The brothers Saku an Mikko Koivu, Finnish ice hockey players playin respectively in Anaheim Ducks an Minnesota Wild as an alternate captain an captain.
*Darude, a Finnish dance muisicker, airtist o the hit sang Sandstorm
*Teemu Brunila, a Finnish sangster, songwriter, muisicker an producer
*Michael Monroe, a Finnish rock muisicker, the vocalist o Hanoi Rocks
*Makwan Amirkhani, Kurdish Finnish MMA fighter in UFC
*Jarno Saarinen, Grand Prix motorcycle racer
The Turku region haes an aa brought forth mony prominent personalities, includin the marshal, Carl Gustaf Mannerheim.

## Economy

The business destrict in the ceety's economy is centred on the Port o Turku an ither service-orientit industries. The ceety is an aa a renowned high-tech centre – the Turku Science Park aurie in Kupittaa hosts ower 300 companies  frae the fields o biotechnology an information technology, as well as several institutions o heicher learnin that wirk in closely wi the business sector. This cooperative element is seen as a parteecularly important factor wi regards tae the ceety's expectit future economic development, as outlined in the *Turku Strategy* that is published annually bi the ceety cooncil. 
At least the follaein major Finnish companies hae thair corporate headquarters in Turku: HKScan an Hesburger. Ither major companies which hae operations in Turku include Bayer, Fläkt Woods, Meyer Werft, Orion Corporation an Wärtsilä.

As o 2007, the ceety's unemployment rate is 9.4%. The problem o unemployment is houever troublesome in the destricts o Pansio, Lauste, an Varissuo, whaur hit hovers at aroond 16%.

## Education

Turku haes a langer eddicational history than ony ither Finnish ceety – the first schuil in the ceety, the Cathedral School, wis foondit alang wi the Cathedral o Turku in the late 13t century. The first varsity in Finland, the "The Ryal Academy o Turku" (nou Varsity o Helsinki), wis established in the ceety in 1640. In 1820, the first school in Finland conformin tae the Bell-Lancaster method wis foondit in Turku wi the aim o makin primary eddication mair inclusive tae the lawer classes.

Turku is home tae aboot 35,000 higher eddication students. Thare are twa varsities an several "polytechnics" in the toun.

The Finnish Varsity o Turku is the seicont lairgest varsity in Finland (18,000 students), as measurt bi student enrollment, an ane o the auldest as well, havin been foondit in 1920. Åbo Akademi, foondit 1918 as the seicont varsity o Finland, is Finland's anly Swedish-leid varsity.  Turku School o Economics merged wi The Varsity o Turku in 2010, an Åbo handelshögskola, hits Swedish counterpart, wi Åbo Akademi 1980. The central hospital o Turku, Turku Varsity Hospital, is affiliatit wi the Varsity an hit is uised as a teachin hospital.

Turku Varsity o Applee'd Sciences is the seicont lairgest polytechnic in Finland efter Metropolia Varsity o Applee'd Sciences. An aa Novia Varsity o Applee'd Sciences an Diaconia Varsity o Applee'd Sciences hae campuses in the toun.

Turku is ane o anly twa ceeties in Finland tae hae an established international school (the ither ceety bein Helsinki). Turku International School, locatit in the eastren destrict o Varissuo, haes been operatin syne 2003. Bi an agreement signed atween the ceety o Turku an the Varsity o Turku, Turun normaalikoulu takes care o the teachin in the international school.

## Media

The maist widely read newspaper o Turku, an the aurie aroond hit, is the daily regional morning newspaper *[[Turun Sanomat]]*, wi a readership o ower 70% o the population every day. *[[Åbo Underrättelser]]*, a Swedish leid newspaper published in Turku, is the auldest newspaper in Finland, havin been published syne 1824. The free-o-charge *Turkulainen* newspaper is an aa amang the maist popular newspapers, thegither wi the local edeetion o *[[Metro International]]* an the naitional evening tabloid *[[Ilta-Sanomat]]*. Thare are an aa a nummer o local newspapers sic as *Kulmakunta* (fir the eastren suburbs o Turku, includin Varissuo an Lauste), an *Rannikkoseutu* (fir the aurie aroond the neighbourin ceeties o Raisio an Naantali).

The first Finnish newspaper *[[Tidningar Utgifne Af et Sällskap i Åbo]]*, in Swedish, wis stairtit in Turku in 1771, as well as the first Finnish-leid newspaper *[[Suomenkieliset Tieto-Sanomat]]* which wis stairtit in 1775.

The newspaper, *Turun Sanomat*, an aa operates a regional televeesion station, cried *Turku TV*. The Finnish naitional broadcaster, *[[Yleisradio]]*, screens local news, daily frae Monday tae Friday, fir the Soothwast Finland (includin the regions o Finland Proper an Satakunta) residents. Aw Finnish naitional TV channels are viewable an naitional radio channels audible in the Turku aurie. In addeetion, a nummer o local radio stations, e.g. *Auran Aallot*, *Radio Sata* an *Radio Robin Hood* are operational. Local public service radio stations are *YLE Turun Radio* in Finnish leid (the regional version o YLE Radio Suomi) an *YLE Radio Vega Åboland* in Swadish leid (the regional version o YLE Radio Vega).

## Cultur

Cultural venues in Turku include several theatres, cinemas, an airt galleries, an a ceety philharmonic orchestra. The ceety's cultural centre organises a nummer o regular events, maist notably the Medieval Mercat in Julie each year. Turku is an aa the offeecial Christmas ceety o Finland, an 'Christmas Peace' in Finland is declared on every 24 December frae the Brinkkala Hall balcony. The Turku Music Festival an the rock festival Ruisrock (held on the island o Ruissalo) are amang the auldest o hits kynd in Scandinavie. The ceety an aa hosts anither rock festival, Down bi the Laituri, an ane o the lairgest electronic music festivals in Northren Europe, UMF (Uuden Musiikin Festivaali, "New Music Festival"), in addition tae a vibrant nightlife, centred on the Market Square.

Thare are an aa numerous museums, sic as the Turku Airt Museum an the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum o Airt. The Åbo Akademi Varsity maintains the Sibelius Museum, which is the anly museum in Finland specialisin in the field o miusic. Apart frae thir, thare are an aa several historical museums that display the ceety's medieval period, sic as the Turku Castle, which haes been a functional historical museum syne 1881, an the *[[Aboa Vetus]]* museum, biggit in the late 1990s ower the 14t century archaeological site. The *[[Luostarinmäki]]* handicrafts museum, convertit frae residential biggins that survived the Great Fire o Turku in 1827, wis the first Scandinavian venue tae receive the "Golden Apple" tourism awaird.

Turku is European Capital o Culture in 2011, an the ceety cooncil haes approved numerous projects tae boost the ceety's image in preparation fir that status.

The Declaration o Christmas Peace haes been a tradeetion in Finland frae the Middle Ages every year, except in 1939 due tae the Winter War. The declaration takes place on the Old Great Squerr o Turku, Finland's offeecial 'Christmas Ceety', at noon on Christmas Eve. The declaration ceremony begins wi the hymn *Jumala ompi linnamme* (Martin Luther's *[[Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott]]*) an continues wi the Declaration o Christmas Peace read frae a pairchment row in Finnish an Swadish.

## Sports

The ceety haes twa fitbaa teams playin at the tap naitional level, the *[[Veikkausliiga]]*: FC Inter an TPS, which is playin in seicont heichest level Ykkönen, but TPS is ane o the auldest fitbaa clubs in Finland. Baith teams play thair home matches at Veritas Stadion in the destrict o Kupittaa.

HC TPS o Turku is ane o the maist successfu teams in Finnish ice hockey history. hit plays in the Finnish tap league, SM-liiga. HC TPS haes won the naitional championship 11 times, the latest bein frae saison 2009-2010. HK Arena, locatit in the Artukainen destrict, is uised as the venue fir HC TPS gemmes.

The *[[Paavo Nurmi Marathon (Turku)|Paavo Nurmi Marathon]]* is an annual sportin event in Turku, named efter the warld-famous runner Paavo Nurmi, who wis born an raised in the ceety.

Finland's maist successfu tennis player, Jarkko Nieminen, wis born an lifes in the neighbourin coonty o Masku

Turku Titans is a lacrosse club based in Turku wi a relevantly successfu history wi three siller medals an ane gowd medal in the naitional lacrosse league in Finland. The Titans weemen's team haes forby haed a successfu history. The FIL U19 2012 World Lacrosse Championships are an aa held in the ceety.

## Internaitional relations

### Twin touns — Sister ceeties
Turku is twinned wi:

Turku haes co-operation greements wi the follaein ceeties:
*  Tallinn in Estonie (co-operation greement)
*  Kuressaare in Estonie (co-operation greement)

## Notes