Viitasaari

Viitasaari [vi ː ˌ tɑ sɑ ː ri ] is a town with 6962 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) in Central Finland.

It is made as a separate parish since 1635, as a political community in its present form since 1868. Since 1996 Viitasaari owns the municipal law. Next to the Kirchdorf Viitasaari covers the villages Haapaniemi, Haarala, Huopana, Ilmolahti, Jurvansalo, Keihärinkoski, Keitelepohja, Kolima, Kotvala ( - Valkeisjärvi ) Kumpumäki, Kymönkoski, Löytänä, Muikunlahti, Mäntylä, Niinilahti, Pasala - Viitakangas, Soliskylä, Suovanlahti ( - Haarala ) Taimoniemi, Vuoskoski and Vuorilahti. The main town Viitasaari located on the banks of the lake Keitele, which is connected via a channel to Päijänne to the shipping lanes of the Finnish Lake District.

About 1,000 square kilometers of the 1,588 -square-kilometer city area is wooded, an additional 340 square miles are occupied by hundreds of lakes; the total shoreline of the lakes is about 900 km long. The agricultural area of only 5,545 hectares. According to include forestry and the wood processing industry 's most important economic sectors. After the municipality itself with 180 employees, the company Viitapuu largest employer in the area; it is one of the largest door manufacturer in Europe. There follow the House Pisla valve manufacturer and the sawmill He - saha. Tourism is also of great importance; in the municipal area there are more than 1,600 Mökkis. Of tourist interest are also the annual music festival Musiikin aika and held since 2004 metal festival Heavy Metal Meeting.

Viita is the birthplace of Henrik Gabriel Porthan, the " father of Finnish history. " On the site of his birthplace near the city center today reminds him of a memorial stone. The present parish church was built in 1849 and redesigned in 1925 under the direction of Alvar Aalto and renovated. Since 1989 in a neo-Byzantine Viitasaari Tsasouna, a house of prayer for some 140 heads counting Russian Orthodox Church, which is composed of refugees from East Karelia and their descendants.

Viitasaari is twinned to the places Sør- Odal, Norway, to Nõo ( German Nüggen ) in Estonia to Staffanstorp and Storuman in Sweden and the municipality of snakes in North Rhine -Westphalia. Since 1987 there is a parish partnership with the community in Nohra ( near Weimar ). In 2010, this partnership was supplemented with a local partnership agreement.

Policy

The two largest Finnish parties, the Social Democrats and the Centre Party, were at the municipal election in 2008 about the same and each eleven of 27 seats in the city council, the highest decision-making authority in local affairs, followed by the National Coalition Party with three seats. In each case, a mandate the Left Alliance and the Christian Democrats have won.