Tampere

Tampere (täm`pĕrā), Swed. Tammerfors, city (1998 pop. 191,254), Western Finland prov., SW Finland, on the banks of the rapids between lakes Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. It is the third largest city in Finland and a leading textile center of N Europe. There are also locomotive works and leather, lumber, and machinery factories. The city, an important trade center since the 11th cent., was chartered in 1779. In 1918 the White forces defeated the Finnish Bolsheviks at Tampere. The city has notable artworks and an unusual open-air theater.

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Tampere

a city in SW Finland: the second largest town in Finland; textile manufacturing. Pop.: 200 966 (2003 est.)

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Tampere 

(Swedish, Tammerfors), a city in southwestern Finland, on the Kokemäki River in Harne Province. It is located between Lake Näsi and Lake Pyhä, which are at different elevations. With respect to its industrial importance and population, Tampere is the second city in Finland after Helsinki. As of 1974, the population was 164,400; if the suburbs are included, the figure was 232,900.

Tampere is a transportation junction and a lake port. Its principal industries are machine building, textiles, pulp and paper, chemicals, and leather and footwear. A hydroelectric power plant is located on the channel between the two lakes, which is full of rapids.

The city has a number of educational and cultural institutions, including the University of Tampere, which was founded in 1925, and the Tampere University of Technology, which was founded in 1965. A computer center was established in 1966. There is a museum devoted to V. I. Lenin.

The first mention of Tampere in historical sources dates from 1405. It was chartered as a city in 1779. By the mid-19th century Tampere had become an important textile center. Because of its industry, the city has been called the Finnish Manchester. Tampere is rich in revolutionary traditions. It was the site of the Second Congress of the Union of Finnish Workers in 1896. The Tammerfors Manifesto was adopted here in 1905, and the First Conference of the RSDLP was held in the city in the same year. The First Conference of the Military and Combat Organizations of the RSDLP took place here in 1906. The city was a workers’ stronghold during the Finnish Revolution of 1918.

Among the architectural works of interest in Tampere are the cathedral (1902–07, architect L. Sonck) and the railroad station (1939, architects E. Seppälä and G. Flodin). The sculptor V. Aaltonen is represented by several works in bronze: four allegorical figures (1927–29) on the Häme Bridge in the center of the city and a monument to A. Kivi (1926–27).