The second largest city in Finland can be found on the map in the south of the country. One of the latest opinion polls shows that the Finns consider Tampere to be the most attractive place to live in Suomi. Its history goes back about 250 years. In 1775 the Swedish monarch Gustav III founded a trading settlement, which soon acquired city status. It flourished in the 19th century, when Tampere, as part of the Grand Duchy of the Finnish Russian Empire, turned into a large industrial and commercial center. It was even called "North Manchester", because the city accounted for almost half of the entire industrial power of Finland. If you go to the south of Suomi and are looking for information on what to see in Tampere, pay attention to local museums, where the history of the city is carefully preserved, and find out the schedule of festivals and holidays that are colorful and exciting in the land of thousands of lakes.
TOP 10 attractions in Tampere
Cathedral
As befits any large city and center of the diocese, Tampere has its own cathedral, built at the beginning of the twentieth century. The author of the project of the temple, consecrated in honor of John the Evangelist, was the architect Lars Sonck, who worked in the style of Finnish national romanticism.
The church is built of gray stone, the roof is made of red tiles. A stained glass round window adorns the facade, and the bell tower is built of the same stone as the temple itself. It has a quadrangular shape on the plan and tapers slightly upward. The tower is crowned with a red tiled spire.
The cathedral is famous for its frescoes by symbolist artists. The most famous of them are the works of Hugo Simberg:
- A snake with an apple in its mouth on the ceiling of the main dome symbolizes the fall, but the wings surrounding it indicate the victory of good over evil.
- Twelve boys with a garland in the gallery represent the apostles.
- On the sides of the "Garland of Life" are written tongues of flame, a snake and a magpie, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit, Judas and Shame.
- On the east wall, you will find a fresco with Simberg's most famous storyline, The Wounded Angel.
The stained glass windows by Simberg are a dove representing the Holy Spirit, the Burning Bush and the Sun in the southern gallery; The Pelican feeding its chick with its blood and being the symbol of the Sacrament, and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse are in the northern part of the cathedral.
Kaleva Church
In the eastern part of Tampere, called Kaleva, as early as 1959, its own Lutheran parish was established. The ward council announced a competition for the design of the future temple, in which the creative duo of Riley and Reima Pietilay won among 49 participants. They laid down the idea of Christian symbolism in the project, and on the plan the building of the church resembled the outlines of a fish. In 1966, the construction of the Kaleva church was completed.
The original building has been protected by the National Council since 2006 as an example of the new monumental architecture in the country. Locals call the temple “the granary of souls”, as the high walls of the building resemble an elevator.
The walls of the church are high and strictly vertical. The interior decoration looks very warm, despite the huge cubic capacity of the space. The reason for this is the many wooden elements used in the interior design of the temple. Floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows allow the room to fill with light even on a cloudy day.
The organ of the Kaleva church was made at a factory in Kangasala. Its façade rises 16 m, and about 3,500 pipes can be used to extract sound, the largest of which is 6, 3 m in length.
Church of Aleksanteri
Another Lutheran temple in the Diocese of Tampere is the Aleksanteri Church, the first stone in the construction of which was laid on March 2, 1880. On this day, the Russian Emperor Alexander II celebrated the 25th anniversary of his rule on the throne, and the church received the name Aleksanteri.
The architect Theodor Getter used classical neo-Gothic techniques in the design and construction. The church turned out to be graceful, directed into the sky with each spire or turret. It is built of red stone and has large windows of various shapes - round, arched and lancet.
In the church, the altarpiece painted by the artist Alexandra Soltin at the expense of a patron who wished to remain incognito is worthy of special attention; the cross on the altar throne, designed by the sculptors Pyhältö; a new organ made in a workshop in Kangasala; reliefs of the second tier of the temple, based on motives of the Sermon on the Mount by the sculptor and carver Evert Porilla.
The temple, the nave of which is 60 m long, can accommodate up to 1200 people at the same time.
Alexander Nevsky Church
The only Orthodox church in Tampere is dedicated to Alexander Nevsky and St. Nicholas. It is part of the Helsingfors metropolis. The construction of the church began in 1896 and lasted for about three years.
Engineer T. U. Yazykov acted as the architect and construction manager. A plot of land allocated by the city authorities was used for the construction. The church was built on donations from citizens and money from the Russian government. The main altar was consecrated in honor of Alexander Nevsky. The basement of the temple contains a small church in honor of Nicholas of Mirliki.
The temple has seven domes: the central one is located on a 17-meter bell tower, the rest are located on the main building of the church. The belfry rises above the main entrance. It has nine bells, one of which weighs almost five tons.
During the fighting during the Civil War in 1918, the temple was badly damaged, but later it was restored. During the restoration work, it was possible to return the church to its original appearance, and today the temple is active.
Moomin Museum
At the end of the 70s of the last century, the children's writer Tove Jansson, with the help of the architect Reima Pietilä, herself built a Moomin house 2.5 m high, where she recreated a fabulous setting from the favorite books of boys and girls not only from Scandinavian countries, but from the whole world. Later, the Moomin House became the center of a museum exhibition dedicated to fairy tale characters. The house moved several times to different premises until it settled in a new building in Tampere in the summer of 2017.
The Moomin Museum is the only one of its kind in the world. It is dedicated to the Universe of Moomin heroes, and within its walls, children and adults can plunge into their favorite fairy tale, as they say, headlong.
Särkänniemi amusement park
In 1975, an amusement park was opened in Tampere, where anyone can find something to their liking, regardless of gender, age, race and hobbies. Särkänniemi invites guests to try dozens of exciting attractions, meet the inhabitants of the mini-zoo, count the stars in the planetarium, watch the performances of the dolphin show participants, admire the marine life in the aquarium halls, dine in a cafe and buy various souvenirs in memory of Tampere.
In the park, you will find an observation deck of the observation tower, a revolving restaurant, playgrounds for the little ones, high-speed slides and children's cafes, where everything - from the menu to the setting - is created based on your favorite fairy tales.
Nyasinneula Tower
The tallest observation tower in Scandinavia appeared in Tampere in 1971. The then mayor of the city, Erkki Lindfors, came up with the idea of building an observation deck from where tourists and citizens could have a bird's eye view of Tampere.
The builders worked at an accelerated pace, and every day the tower grew by four meters. As a result, its height was 168 m, but the observation deck is located at an altitude of 120 m. Those who want to drink coffee with a view of the surroundings can visit the Pilvilinna cafe. A more serious menu is offered by the restaurant, the tables of which are located at a height of 124 m above the ground. You can work up your appetite by climbing the 700 steps inside the tower. The lazy ones will be helped by high-speed elevators that cover 6 meters in one second.
Police Museum
Among the many museums in Tampere, this one is especially popular with detective lovers. To learn the history of the city police and hear about the most high-profile crimes of the century, many tourists come to Finland every day. The exposition is interactive, and young visitors can try on the role of both a law enforcement officer and a prisoner. For this purpose, the Children's Police Station has been set up at the Tampere Police Museum.
About 60 thousand exhibits illustrate the history of the Tampere police in a very vivid way. In the halls of the museum, documentary photographs, evidence, means of combating criminals and personal belongings of law enforcement officers of different years are exhibited.
The museum is housed in the building of the Tampere Police Graduate School, and visitors can also see the modern learning and working environment of the Finnish police.
Hockey Hall of Fame
This is what the locals call the Tampere Ice Hockey Museum, the exposition of which illustrates the history of the emergence and development of one of the most popular sports in the country.
Finnish big hockey dates back to the distant 20s of the last century. The museum displays numerous awards won by the Finnish national team in the European, World and Olympic Championships. The Wall of Fame, where photos of the best sportsmen of the country of Suomi are exhibited, attracts the largest number of visitors. Among them are the younger generation of hockey players coming to Tampere from all over the world.
Examining the exhibits of the Ice Hockey Museum, you will find clubs and uniforms of famous players, see how sports equipment has changed over the years, get acquainted with the history of the country's team performances at major competitions and take photos of the awards won by Finnish hockey players in the most prestigious championships.
Mineral Museum
Whether you have dreamed of becoming a geologist, love decorative stones, or are simply fond of mineralogy, a trip to this Tampere museum will certainly appeal to you. The Mineral Museum has collected treasures from seven dozen countries under its roof. Among the exhibits are precious gems, unique crystals of rocks, meteorites and ancient fossils, including dinosaur eggs.
Part of the collection is represented by finds from the seabed. You will see shells of mollusks that lived millions of years before human civilization appeared on the planet.
