Riihimäki
Encyclopedia
Riihimäki is a town and municipality in the south of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, about 69 kilometres (42.9 mi) north of Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 and 109 km (67.7 mi) southeast of Tampere
Tampere
Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...

. It is somewhat of a railway junction, since the railway tracks going from different parts of the nation to Helsinki merge there. Sako, Ltd.
SAKO
SAKO, Limited is a Finnish firearm manufacturer located in Riihimäki....

 has a major factory in Riihimäki.

The town is located in the province
Provinces of Finland
The state of Finland consisted of six provinces between the years 1997 and 2009. The provincial authority was part of the central government's executive branch, not directly elected. The system was created in 1634, and its makeup was changed drastically in 1997, when the number of the provinces...

 of Southern Finland
Southern Finland
Southern Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2010. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia.- History :...

 and is part of the Tavastia Proper
Tavastia Proper
Tavastia Proper is a region of Finland. It borders to the regions Finland Proper, Pirkanmaa, Päijänne Tavastia, and Uusimaa.Hämeenlinna is the largest urban area in the region...

 region
Regions of Finland
Finland consists of 19 regions called in Finnish and in Swedish. The regions are governed by regional councils, which serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of a region. The main tasks of the regions are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. In addition,...

. The town has a population of and covers an area of km2 of which km2 is water. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 is PD/km2. The municipality is unilingually Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

.

History

Riihimäki was established around the Riihimäki railway station
Riihimäki railway station
Riihimäki railway station is located in the town of Riihimäki, Finland.-History:The Riihimäki railway station is one of the original stations on the main railway track from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna, opened in 1862. The town was originally built because of the railway. In 1870, a track to Saint...

, one of the original stations on the Helsinki–Hämeenlinna track (main track of Finland). It became the first junction in Finland when the Riihimäki – Saint Petersburg track's first section from Riihimäki to Lahti
Lahti
Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland.Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki...

 was opened in 1869. Gradually, more settlements started to be built around the station.

In 1922, Riihimäki separated from Hausjärvi
Hausjärvi
Hausjärvi is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Oitti.It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Tavastia Proper region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...

 and became an independent market-town. Riihimäki got its city rights in 1960. It was home to the reputed Riihimäki Glass
Riihimaki glass
Riihimäki glass was a reputed glass company in Riihimäki, Finland, in operation from 1910, when it was founded by Mikko Adolf Kolehmainen, to 1990. Their production ranged from basic to high quality glass ornaments, which are now sought after as collectibles, especially some of their vases...

 company that remained in business from 1910 through 1990.

Sports

  • Peltosaaren Nikkarit & Kiekko-Nikkarit (Ice hockey
    Ice hockey
    Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

    )
  • Kolmoskori (Basketball
    Basketball
    Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

    )
  • Riihimäen Ilves
    Riihimäen Ilves
    Riihimäen Ilves is a football club from Riihimäki, Finland which was. The club was formed in 1970. The men's football first team currently plays in the Kolmonen and their home ground is at the Riihimäen Pallokenttä....

    , formerly RIPS (Soccer)
  • SC Top (Floorball
    Floorball
    Floorball, a type of floor hockey, is an indoor team sport which was developed in the 1970s in Sweden. Floorball is most popular in areas where the sport has developed the longest, such as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The game is played...

    )
  • Cocks
    Riihimäki Cocks
    Riihimäki Cocks is a Finnish handball club from Riihimäki.-History:Riihimäki Cocks were founded in 1973 when the club decided to separate from RiPS...

     (Handball
    Team handball
    Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...

    )
  • Riihi-Pesis, formerly RPL (Pesäpallo
    Pesäpallo
    Pesäpallo is a fast-moving ball sport that is quite often referred to as the national sport of Finland and has some presence in other countries, such as Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, and Northern Ontario in Canada...

    )
  • Riihimäen Kisko (Athletics
    Athletics (track and field)
    Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

    )

Famous people

  • Renny Harlin
    Renny Harlin
    Renny Harlin is a Finnish-American film director and producer. He is best known for Die Hard 2 , Cliffhanger , The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea...

    , film director
  • Jukka Jalonen
    Jukka Jalonen
    Jukka Jalonen is a Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Finnish national men's ice hockey team....

    , national ice hockey coach
  • Janne Lahti
    Janne Lahti
    Janne Lahti is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing for the Jokerit in the SM-liiga.On June 1, 2007, Lahti signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens, and he played the 2007–08 season in the American Hockey League with the Hamilton Bulldogs.-External links:...

    , SM-Liiga
    SM-liiga
    The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...

     player
  • Sami Lähteenmäki, SM-Liiga
    SM-liiga
    The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...

     player
  • Janne Kataja, TV-personality
  • Olli Korkeavuori, SM-Liiga
    SM-liiga
    The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...

     player
  • Sinikka Laine
    Sinikka Laine
    Sinikka Laine-Törmänen is a Finnish author primarily of Young-adult fiction. Her first novel Ohari was published in 1982....

    , writer
  • Kari Tiainen
    Kari Tiainen
    Kari Tiainen is a Finnish enduro rider. He is a seven-time World Enduro Champion and held the record for most wins in the world championship , until the record was broken by compatriot Juha Salminen during the 2008 season...

    , motorcycle enduro world champion
  • Pekka Vasala
    Pekka Vasala
    Pekka Antero Vasala was a middle-distance athlete who won an Olympic gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich....

    , Olympic champion (1972) in the 1,500 metres
  • Jussi Veikkanen
    Jussi Veikkanen
    Jussi Veikkanen is a Finnish road racing cyclist. He started his career with team Mälarenergi and he became a professional cyclist in 2005 with FDJ. After a long breakaway on stage 2 of the 2009 Tour de France he donned the Polka Dot Jersey for king of the mountains...

    , professional road racing cyclist.
  • Jukka Vanninen
    Jukka Vanninen
    Jukka Vanninen is a Finnish football player currently playing for FC Lahti.-References:*...

    , Veikkausliiga
    Veikkausliiga
    Veikkausliiga is the premier division of Finnish football, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Veikkausliiga is currently ranked as the 28th best league in Europe. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkaus, hence the league's name...

     player FC Lahti
    FC Lahti
    FC Lahti is a Finnish football club, based in the town of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish First Division after placing last in Finnish Premier League during season 2010...

  • Jann Wilde
    Jann Wilde
    Jann Wilde is a Finnish singer/songwriter from Tampere, Finland. Born in 14 April 1982.Jann Wilde started his musical career when he released his demo EP Boys Out Of New York in 2004. On the early demos, he recorded all the instruments on most of the tracks...

    , musician, songwriter

Twin towns — Sister cities

Riihimäki is twinned with: Szolnok
Szolnok
Szolnok is the county seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary. Its location on the banks of the Tisza river, at the heart of the Great Hungarian Plain, has made it an important cultural and economic crossroads for centuries....

, Hungary Skedsmo
Skedsmo
Skedsmo is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillestrøm. About one third of the municipal population lives in Lillestrøm. Other important towns are Skedsmokorset, Skjetten and...

, Norway Husavik
Husavik
Husavik is a village in Austevoll municipality, Norway. It is located in the district Vestre Vinnesvåg south on the island Huftarøy....

, Iceland Gus-Khrustalny
Khrustalny
Khrustalny is an urban locality in Kavalerovsky District of Primorsky Krai, Russia, located from the district's administrative center of Kavalerovo. Population: Postal code: 692426....

, Russia Karlskoga
Karlskoga
Karlskoga is a locality and the seat of Karlskoga Municipality in Örebro County, Sweden with 27,500 inhabitants in 2005.-Geography:It is located at the northern shore of lake Möckeln, and the small settlement was initially called Möckelns bodar...

, Sweden Aalborg
Aalborg
-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....

, Denmark Bad Segeberg
Bad Segeberg
Bad Segeberg is a German town of 16,000 inhabitants, located in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, capital of the district Segeberg. It is situated approximately northeast of Hamburg, and west of Lübeck.It is famous for its annual Karl-May-Festival...

, Germany

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK