Saarijärvi

Saarijärvi [ sɑ rijærvi ː ] is a town with 10,268 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2012) in Central Finland. Saarijärvi is quite extensive and predominantly rural town, next to agriculture are medium-sized companies in the metalworking and electronics industries of economic importance.

Geography

Saarijärvi is situated in the Lake District landscape of Central Finland 65 km north of Jyväskylä. Neighboring cities and municipalities are Äänekoski in the east, Uurainen in the south, Multia the southwest, Soini and Karstula in the northwest and Kannonkoski in the north.

The center of Saarijärvi lies on an isthmus between two lakes: the eponymous Saarijärvi and the Pieni - Lumperoinen. The district of Saarijärvi is quite extended with 1422.86 square kilometers; Lakes and rivers make up about 12 percent of the municipal area.

In the north- east of the district, the 12 -square-kilometer Pyhä- Häkki National Park with some of the last virgin forests in central Finland and extensive moorland.

History

The first people reached the area of Saarijärvi after the end of the last ice age about 8,000 years ago. In the Middle Ages Hämeer used the area as a hunting ground. A sedentary settlement was, however, only in the middle of the 16th century in the wake of Binnenkolonialisierung under King Gustav Vasa. The first settlers were partly Hämeer, but especially farmers from Savo. In 1560 Saarijärvi counted only 13 houses, four years later, already 34 First, the agricultural settlements belonged to the greater community Sysmä, sb 1561 then to this year dissolved out Sysmä greater community Rautalampi. 1628 Saarijärvi was a chapel congregation of the sock Rautalampi, 1639, it was then extended to some areas of the municipalities Laukaa and Ruovesi, collected under the name Palvasalmi for independent parish. The name Saarijärvi ( in German " Island Lake " ) did not come until around 1690 in use.

In the Great Northern War, the villages of the community were devastated. 1714 Russian troops were burning from the church and parish of the town, in the village Lännevesi survived the war only three houses. Agriculture turned over centuries the main occupation of the inhabitants is, first of barley, from the 18th century, especially the cultivation of rye. More and more fields were created by slash and burn. In addition, then won the Teerbrennerei in importance in the 19th century, forestry and dairy industry.

As a political community consists Saarijärvi since 1866 As a result, the places Karstula (1867 ), Uurainen (1868 ) and Pylkönmäki (1914 ) were from the Greater community Saarijärvi leaving as independent communities. ; other areas lost Saarijärvi to the city Äänekoski. Since 1986, the city Saarijärvi rights. Early in 2009, the church was re- incorporated in Pylkönmäki Saarijärvi.

By 1870 the population of Saarijärvi was still 14 404 people. How many rural regions in Finland recorded Saarijärvi for decades a significant population decline. In just the last ten years, the population fell by more than 700 heads, or more than 7 percent.

Policy

As in most rural areas of Finland is in Saarijärvi the Centre Party, the largest party. In the 2008 local elections and the 2007 parliamentary elections they received about half the votes each. In the City Council, the highest decision-making body in local affairs, it represents 17 of 35 deputies. The second largest group are the Social Democrats with nine seats, followed by the conservative National Coalition Party which holds four seats. The Green Bund won two mandates, the Left Alliance, the Christian Democrats and the right-wing populist base fins each one.

Saarijärvi is twinned to the Norwegian municipality of Gran, the Danish places Hadsten and Hinnerup, the Swedish town of Kungsbacka, the German Office Trittau and the French administrative community Loire Divatte.

Culture and sights

The evangelical Lutheran church of Saarijärvi 1846-49 under the direction of Jaakko Heikinpoika Kuorikoski built from a design by Carl Ludwig Engel in timber construction. It is built according to the 1628 and 1694 and then demolished for reasons of space of worship already the third church building at this point. The plan after it is a cruciform church, but their shape is dominated by the winning of a lantern dome that spans the crossing. With a diameter of 18 meters, it is probably the largest wooden dome of Finland. The interior is quite opulent for Finnish- Protestant relations and also influenced by the style of the 19th century. The two altarpieces by Johan N. Backman date back to the previous building, they date back to 1756. The free-standing bell tower was also built in 1865 by Kuorikoski; Angel, however, had provided in his drawing no tower.

In the villages of Saarijärvi still Ensembles of farm houses from the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved, which are now registered as a cultural landscape in the Finnish Heritage Register. In the village there is a Kolkanlahti 1780 founded Nursing Home. The main building was built around 1800 houses a room in which lived in the 1820s Johan Ludvig Runeberg, when he worked as a teacher in Saarijärvi. One of the most famous poems is the Runeberg ( 1830), published in the collection bonding Paavo Dikter ( " The peasant Paavo "). This Runeberg describes a farmer from Saarijärvi who fought against all odds in times of famine, and thus created the national romantic ideal of the hard-working, pious, and next -loving Finnish farmers. At the " Paavo from Saarijärvi " embodying the Finnish national virtue Sisu, recalls a still image in front of the Church of Saarijärvi.

Northeast of the center on the road to Kokkola is located since 1988, the theme park Puuhapuisto Veijari, which is particularly popular in summer by families, including a petting zoo, aquariums, inflatables, pedal boats, mini golf and a trout pond for recreational anglers comes up. At the park, a small campsite is connected.

Of tourist interest is an open air museum on the island Summassaari, illustrating life in a Stone Age village.

Sons and daughters

• Stenroth Otto (1861-1939), politician
• Toivo Hyytiäinen (1925-1978), javelin thrower
• Markku Slawyk (* 1962), German field hockey player