Lohja

Lohja [ lɔhjɑ ] ( swedish Lojo ) is a city in southern Finland with 47,544 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2012).

Geography

Lohja is located 60 kilometers west of Helsinki in the western part of southern Finland Uusimaa landscape on the shores of Lake Lohjanjärvi. Neighboring cities and municipalities are Karkkila and Vihti in the northeast, Siuntio the southeast, Ingå in the south, Raseborg the southwest, Salo in the west, northwest, and Somero in Tammela in the north.

The urban area includes Lohjas since the incorporation of several neighboring communities except the very core of the city in a vast area of a total of 1,109.7 square kilometers (of which 170.6 square kilometers inland waters).

The town of Lohja except the core city has seven more centers of settlement ( taajama ); also is a smaller part of Nummela, capital of the neighboring municipality of Vihti, in the urban area Lohjas (population figures as at 31 December 2011):

  • Core city ( 33 393 inhabitants)
  • Saukkola ( 1,038 inhabitants)
  • Sammatti ( 872 inhabitants)
  • Pusula ( 787 inhabitants)
  • Karjalohja ( 597 inhabitants)
  • Nummi (512 inhabitants)
  • Vasarla (257 inhabitants)
  • Ikkala (256 inhabitants)
  • Nummela ( part) ( 255 inhabitants)

History

The earliest recorded mention of Lohja dates from the year 1323. Comes from the late 15th century the St. Lawrence's Church, one of the most important medieval churches in Finland. The stone church is equipped with exceptionally well-preserved wall paintings from the 16th century and is now the main attraction of the city. In the 16th century originated in Lohja the first ore mine in Finland. 1926 Lohja was dissolved as a market town from the surrounding rural community Lohja. In 1969, the market town to town was charged. In 1997 the merger of the city and the municipality of Lohja. At the beginning of 2009, the neighboring community Sammatti was incorporated in 2013 followed Karjalohja and Nummi - Pusula.

Population

The population is 47,544 Lohjas (as of 31 December 2012). Through the incorporation of Sammatti, Karjalohja and Nummi - Pusula, the population has increased by more than 10,000 since 2009. Just under 1700 inhabitants Lohjas, 3.8 percent of the population speak Swedish as their mother tongue (as of 2012). Despite the low proportion of the Finland-Swedish minority in the population of the town makes for historical reasons, use of a special use of the language law and is officially bilingual with Finnish as majority and Swedish as a minority language.

Policy

The strongest parties in Lohja, the Social Democrats and the conservative National Coalition Party. In the local elections in 2012 the Social Democrats received 23 percent of the vote in the city council, the highest decision-making authority in local affairs, they represent 12 of 51 deputies. The collection party follows as the second strongest force with 20 percent of the votes and eleven seats in the city council. The third major party in the country, the Centre Party, however, plays with a single-digit vote and five seats in the city council as generally in the cities of southern Finland only a minor role. Right are strongly represented the right-wing populist " True Finns " with seven, the Left Alliance and the Green with six league with five deputies. Three seats on the city council accounted for by the local electoral alliance Meidän Lohja ( "Our Lohja "). Also represented in the City Council, the Swedish People's Party, the political representation of Finland Sweden, and the Christian Democrats with one seat

Traffic

The highway like a developed state highway 1 from Helsinki to Turku crosses Lohja. In addition, Lohja situated on the Royal Road, the old way of the Swedish kings from Turku to Viborg. Today, the Royal Route is a tourist route.

Attractions

The church of Lohja is one of the most famous medieval stone churches in Finland. It was built in the late 15th century and is dedicated to St. Lawrence. Remarkable are especially the well-appointed with secco paintings from the early 16th century. In the former municipalities belonging to Lohja there are six other houses of worship: The church of Sammatti is a small wooden church from 1755 in Nummi, the 1822 is in the classical style fieldstone church built of Nummi. . The wooden church was built in 1838 by Pusula designed by Carl Ludwig Engel. It is also the wooden church of Kärkölä of 1842 In Karjalohja there are two churches next to each other. Built 1860 Stone Church Karjalohja burned in 1970 after a lightning strike and became in 1991 repaired. Meanwhile, the modern glass church of Lohja was erected in 1977.

The L.Lohjanjärvi, with an area of ​​122 square kilometers, the largest lake of Uusimaa, located mostly in the municipality of Lohja. On the shore of the lake there is the cave of Torhola, the largest cave in Finland. In a now disused limestone mine today can be partly visited the 60- kilometer-long network of tunnels.

Twinning

  • Sweden Vaxjo, Sweden
  • Norway Ringerike, Norway
  • Denmark Aabenraa, Denmark
  • Skagaströnd Iceland, Iceland
  • Sátoraljaújhely Hungary, Hungary
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