Manchester of the North, Nashville of the North, Manse (“Manchester” in Finnish),[1] Nääsville (“Nashville” in Finnish),[a][1] Sauna Capital of the World
Tampere is the most populous inland city in theNordic countries.[13] Theurban area has a population of about 340,000.[5] Tampere is considered the most important urban, economic and cultural centre in the whole of inland Finland.[14]
Tampere and its surroundings are part of the historic province ofSatakunta, but the area belonged to theprovince of Häme (Tavastia) from 1831 to 1997 and it has often been considered part of that province. For example, inUusi tietosanakirja, published in the 1960s, the Tampere subregion is presented as part of the then province of Tavastia.
Between 1775 and 1870, Tammerkoski rapids formed the border between the former province of Häme and theprovince of Turku and Pori. The city of Tampere was on the western side of the rapids, but the eastern bank was attached to the city in 1877.
Around the 1950s, Tampere and its surroundings began to establish themselves as a separate province known as Pirkanmaa. Tampere became the centre of Pirkanmaa, andTammermaa was also used several times in the province's early days, for example in theSuomi-käsikirja published in 1968.[15]
Tampere is wedged between two lakes, LakeNäsijärvi and LakePyhäjärvi,[16][17] with an 18 m (59 ft) difference in water level, and the rapids that connect them,Tammerkoski, have been an important source of power throughout history, most recently for generating electricity.[18] Tampere is known as the "Manchester of the North" because of its past as a centre of Finnish industry,[17][19] which has given rise to its Finnish nickname "Manse"[1] and terms such as "Manserock".[20][21][22] Tampere has also been officially declared the "Sauna Capital of the World"[17] because it has the most publicsaunas in the world.[13][23][24][25][26]
Helsinki is about 160 km (100 mi) south of Tampere and can be reached byPendolino high-speed train in 1 hour 31 minutes[27] and by car in two hours. The distance toTurku, Finland's third most populousurban area, is about the same. TheTampere–Pirkkala Airport is the eighth busiest airport in Finland, with more than 230,000 passengers using it in 2017.[28] Tampere is also an important transit route for threeFinnish highways:Highway 3 (E12),Highway 9 (E63) andHighway 12. TheTampere light rail had two lines when it started operating in 2021.[29]
Tampere is often rated as the most popular city in Finland.[30][31][32][17] The development of Tampere and its metropolitan area has continued into the 21st century, largely because Tampere is one of Finland's most attractive cities.[31][33][34] In 2023, Tampere won the first prize at the Smart City World Congress inBarcelona, competing in the category of enabling technologies, while also receiving recognition for the use of technological solutions for the benefit of residents and businesses.[35][36][37]
Although the name Tampere derives from theTammerkoski rapids (both the city and the rapids are called Tammerfors inSwedish), the origin and meaning of theTammer- part of the name has been the subject of much debate.[38] LinguistÁnte Aikio accepts the "straightforward" etymology of Rahkonen and Heikkilä inProto-Samic*Tëmpël(kōškë),*tëmpël meaning "deep, slow part of a stream" and*kōškë "rapids" (related to the Finnishkoski),[15][39][40][41] which has become the most accepted explanation in academia, according to theInstitute for the Languages of Finland.[42] Other theories are that it comes from the Swedish worddamber, meaningmilldam or that it comes from the ancientScandinavian wordsþambr ("fat-bellied") andþambion ("swollen belly"), possibly referring to the rapids' shape. Another suggestion links the name to the Swedish wordKvatemberdagar, or more colloquiallyTamperdagar, which refers to theEmber Days of theWestern Christian liturgical calendar. The Finnish word foroak,tammi, has also been suggested,[43] although Tampere is outside the natural range of theEuropean oak.[44]
Tampere's firstcoat of arms was designed by Arvid von Cederwald in 1838,[45][46][47] while the current coat of arms, created in 1960, was designed by Olof Eriksson.[45] Changing the coat of arms was controversial, and even after the change there were occasional calls for the old coat of arms to be restored.[48] The new coat of arms was also described in letters to the editor asSoviet-style because of its colours.[49]
Theblazon of the old coat of arms has either not survived or was never made,[50] but the current coat of arms has been described as follows: "In the red field, a corrugated counter-bar, above which is accompanied by a piledhammer, and below acaduceus; all gold". Its colours are the same as in the coat of arms of Pirkanmaa. The hammer, which looks like the first letter of the city's name, T, symbolises Tampere's earlyindustry,[48] the caduceus its commercial activities,[48] and the wavy counter-bar the Tammerkoski rapids that divide Tampere's industrial and commercial areas.[51]
The city received its firstseal in 1803, depicting the city's buildings of the time and Tammerkoski.[52]
The earliest known permanent settlements around Tammerkoski were established in the 7th century, when settlers from the west of the region began to farm land inTakahuhti,[53] an area largely inhabited by theTavastian tribes.[54] The population remained small for many centuries. By the 16th century, the villages ofMessukylä and Takahuhti had become the area's largest settlements. Other nearby villages were Laiskola, Pyynikkälä and Hatanpää. There had been amarketplace in thePispala area for centuries, where thebourgeoisie fromTurku in particular traded.[55] In 1638, Governor-GeneralPer Brahe the Younger ordered that two markets be held in Tammerkoski every year, the autumn market on St Peter's Day in August and the winter one on Matias's Day in February. In 1708 the market was moved from the outskirts of Tammerkoski to Harju, and in 1758 from there to Pispala.[56]: 16 The first industries in the Pirkanmaa region in the 17th century were mainlywatermills andsawmills. In the 18th century other industries began to develop, as several smallironworks, the Tammerkoski distillery, and the Otavalaspinning school were established.[57]
Tampere seen from the Messukylä side of Tammerkoski in the 1837 artwork by Pehr Adolf Kruskopf
Before the founding of the city of Tampere, the neighbouring parish ofPirkkala (from which the current region ofPirkanmaa takes its name) was the most administratively important parish in the area throughout theMiddle Ages.[58] This changed in the 18th century when Erik Edner, a Finnishpastor,[59] proposed the establishment of a town on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in 1771–1772;[60] it was officially founded as a market town[d] in 1775 byGustav III of Sweden, and on 1 October 1779,[61] Tampere was granted fulltown rights. At that time it was rather small, founded on the lands of the Tammerkoski manor, and its inhabitants were mainly farmers. Asfarming was forbidden within the city limits, the inhabitants began to rely on other means of earning a living, mainlytrade andcrafts.[53] In 1809, when Finland became aGrand Duchy of Finland, Tampere still had less than a thousand inhabitants.[53][19]
In the 19th century, Tampere grew into an important market town andindustrial centre;[63] its industrialisation was greatly influenced by theFinlayson textile factory, founded in 1820 by the Scottish industrialistJames Finlayson.[13][19] By 1850, the factory employed around 2000 people, while the city's population had grown to 4000. Other notable industrial establishments that followed Finlayson's success in the 1800s were theTampellablast furnace,machine factory andflax mill, the Frenckellpaper mill and the Tamperebroadcloth factory.[53][19] Tampere's population grew rapidly at the end of the 19th century, from around 7,000 in 1870 to 36,000 in 1900. At the beginning of the 20th century, Tampere was a city of workers and women, with a third of the population being factory workers and more than half women.[53] At the same time, the area of the city increased almost sevenfold and impressiveapartment blocks were built in the centre of Tampere between modest wooden houses. The stone houses gave Tampere a modern look. The construction of thesewerage andwater supply networks and the introduction ofelectric lighting were further steps towards modernisation;[53] Tampere was the first Nordic city to introduce electric lighting for general use in 1882.[64][65] The railway connection to Tampere from the extension of theHelsinki-Hämeenlinna line (now part of theMain Line) viaToijala was opened to the public on 22 June 1876. [66]: 173
After Finland gained its full independence, Tampere played an important role in the1918 Civil War, being one of the most strategically important places for theFinnish Socialist Workers' Republic (FSWR) during the Finnish Civil War (28 January - 15 May 1918); the city was the most important industrial city in Finland at the beginning of the 20th century, with a hugeworking population.[71]: 13–14 [19] Tampere was a Red stronghold during the war, commanded by Hugo Salmela. White forces led byGeneral Mannerheim captured the city after theBattle of Tampere, taking about 10,000Red prisoners on 6 April 1918.[72][73]
During theWinter War, Tampere was bombed several times by theSoviet Union.[74] The reason for the bombing of Tampere was that the city was an important railway junction and was also home to theState Aircraft Factory and the Tampella Factory, which producedammunition and weapons, includinggrenade launchers. The most devastating bombing took place on 2 March 1940, when nine people were killed and 30 wounded. In addition, ten buildings were destroyed and 30 damaged that day.[75]
The dominant force in Tampere's municipal politics after theSecond World War was the Brothers-in-Arms Axis (aseveliakseli), which consisted mainly of theNational Coalition Party and theSocial Democrats. While theCentre Party was the largest political force in the Finnish countryside, it had no practical relevance in Tampere.[76]
After the Second World War, Tampere was enlarged by the incorporation of some neighbouring areas. Messukylä was incorporated in 1947,Lielahti in 1950, Aitolahti in 1966 andTeisko in 1972. Already in 1937 the most part of modern western Tampere, including Pispala, was annexed to the city from North Pirkkala (today Nokia). Tampere passed the 100,000 population mark in 1950.[77] Tampere was long known for its textile and metal industries, but these were largely replaced by information technology and telecommunications in the 1990s. The Hermia technology centre inHervanta is home to many companies in these fields.[78][79]Yleisradio began broadcasting its second television channel,Yle TV2, fromRistimäki, Tampere, in 1965,[80][81] making Finland the first of the Nordic countries to receive a second television channel, after Sweden'sSVT2 began broadcasting four years later. Tampere became auniversity city when the Social University moved from Helsinki to Tampere in 1960, becoming theUniversity of Tampere in 1966.[82] In 1979, theTampere-Pirkkala airport was opened 13 km (8.1 mi) from the centre of Tampere on the Pirkkala side of the city.[83][84]
At the turn of the 1990s, Tampere's industry underwent a major structural change, as the production of Tampella and Tampere's textile industry in particular was heavily focused onbilateral trade with the Soviet Union, but when the Soviet Unioncollapsed in 1991, the companies lost their main customers. As a result of the sudden change and thedepression of the early 1990s, Finlayson and Suomen Trikoo had to scale down their operations drastically. Tampella wentbankrupt.[18] But although the change left a huge amount of vacant industrial space in the city centre, in the early 2000s it was gradually put to other uses, and today's Tampere cityscape is mainly characterised by strongIT companies, most notablyNokia's Tampere R&D units.[85]
Tampere is part of thePirkanmaa region and is surrounded by the municipalities ofKangasala,Lempäälä,Nokia,Orivesi,Pirkkala,Ruovesi andYlöjärvi.[86] Tampere has 180 lakes larger than 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft), and freshwater bodies cover 24% of its area.[16] The lakes formed as separate basins fromLake Ancylus about 7500–8000 years ago.[87] Tampere's northernmost point is in theVankavesiFjard ofTeisko, the southernmost at the eastern end ofLake Hervanta, the easternmost at the northeast corner ofLake Paalijärvi of Teisko, and the westernmost at the southeast corner ofLake Haukijärvi near the borders of Ylöjärvi and Nokia. The city centre is surrounded by three lakes, Näsijärvi, Pyhäjärvi, and the much smaller Iidesjärvi. The Tampere region lies in the basin of the Kokemäki River, which flows into the Bothnian Sea through Pori, the capital of theSatakunta region.[87] Tampere'sbedrock consists ofmica schist andmigmatite,[88] and its building stone deposits are diverse: in addition to the traditional granite, there is an abundance ofquartz diorite,tonalite, mica schist andmica gneiss.[89] One of Tampere's most striking geographic features is the Pyynikki Ridge (Pyynikinharju), a largeesker formed frommoraine during theWeichselian glaciation.[90] It rises 160 m (520 ft) above sea level and is said to be the largest gravel esker in the world.[90] It is also part ofSalpausselkä, a 200 km (120 mi) long ridge system left over from theIce Age.[90]
Thecentre of Tampere (Keskusta) and the districts ofPyynikki,Ylä-Pispala andAla-Pispala lie on the isthmus between Lakes Pyhäjärvi and Näsijärvi. The city's location on the edge of the TammerkoskiRapids between two long waterways was one of the main reasons for its foundation in the 1770s.[91] The streets of central Tampere form a typical grid pattern. On the western edge of the city centre is a north–south park road,Hämeenpuisto ("Häme Park" or "Tavastia Park"), which runs from the shore of Lake Pyhäjärvi near Lake Näsijärvi. The wideHämeenkatu road runs east–west fromTampere Central Station to Hämeenpuisto and crosses Tammerkoski along theHämeensilta bridge. Also along Hämeenkatu is the longest street in the city centre,Satakunnankatu, which runs from Rautatienkatu toAmuri and crosses Tammerkoski via the Satakunnansilta bridge. Tampere's central square is located on the western bank of Tammerkoski, near Hämeensilta. The traffic centre of Tampere is the junction ofItsenäisyydenkatu,[e]Teiskontie,Sammonkatu, Kalevanpuisto park road and theKaleva andLiisankallio districts.[92]
The city of Tampere is divided intoseven statistical areas, each of which includes the many districts and their suburbs. There are 111 statistical areas in Tampere, but the statistical areas created for Tampere's statistics do not fully correspond to the division of Tampere's districts or to the way residents perceive the districts. For example, the districts ofAmuri,Kyttälä andTammela are divided into two parts in accordance with the official district division, and Liisankallio andKalevanrinne are often considered to belong to the district of Kaleva.[93]
Tampere has ahumid continental climateDfb with clearly defined four seasons. The climate ofTampere-Pirkkala Airport, which is located away from the city centre, borders on thesubarctic climate zone (Köppen climate classificationDfc). Winters are cold and the average temperature from December to February is below −3 °C (27 °F) and it can reach to −30 °C (−22 °F) . Summers are cool to warm. The average snow cover lasts 4–5 months from late November to early April. Given the high latitude and inland location, winters are on average quite mild for the latitude, as is the average annual temperature.[citation needed]
Climate data for Tampere Härmälä (TMP), elevation: 85 m (279 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1900–present (Härmälä and Tampella)
The Post-Art Nouveau was largely Nordic,[100] with the Laikku House of Culture, theHotel Tammer, the Tuulensuu House and the Viinikka Church built in Tampere. AfterFunctionalism became the dominant style in the 1930s,Tampere Central Station, Tempo House, a bus station and Kauppi Hospital were built in Tampere. There is no single accepted term for thepost-war style, but the main representatives of the reconstruction period are the Bank of Finland building, the Amurinlinna building and the Pyynikki swimming pool. The rationalist buildings of themodernist period are represented by theUniversity of Tampere,Tampere Central Hospital, Sampola, the School of Economics,Ratina Stadium andKaleva Church.[100] The modernist buildings include theMetso Main Library, the Hervanta Operations Centre, theTampere Hall, the university extension and theNokia office building inHatanpää.[93]
The city of Tampere has shown strong growth in recent years.[101] The "Tampere Deck" and itsnew multi-purpose arena in November 2021.
Thecentre of Tampere and its western parts have been developed in a more modern direction since the 2010s,[102] and the city aims to have the centre in its future form by the 2030s.[103] In particular, plans have been drawn up for the area around the central railway station in the form of the "Tampere Deck" project, which includes anew multi-purpose arena andhigh-rise buildings in the area.[101][104] Alight rail network has also recently been built in the city centre.Artificial island projects are planned on the shores of the lakes, which would create newresidential areas for several thousand people.[101] The projects are estimated to cost several billion euros.[101][103][104]
The Tampere region,Pirkanmaa, which includes outlying municipalities, has around 509,000 residents,[105] 244,000 employed people,[106] and a turnover of 28 billion euros as of 2014[update].[107]
According to theTampere International Business Office, the area is strong in mechanical engineering and automation, information and communication technologies, and health and biotechnology, as well as pulp and paper industry education. Unemployment rate was 9.2% in September 2023.[108] 70% of the areas jobs are in the service sector. Less than 20% are in the manufacturing sector. 34.5% of employed people live outside the Tampere municipality and commute to Tampere for work. Meanwhile, 15.6% of Tampere's residents work outside Tampere.[109]
Tampere'sHotel Torni, the tallest hotel in Finland[112]Särkänniemi amusement park is the most popular tourist destination of Tampere.
According to a study carried out by the TAK Research, the total impact of tourism in the Tampere region in 2022 was more than 562 million euros. Tourism also brought 4,805 person-years to the region.[113] Tampere's biggest single attraction is theSärkänniemiamusement park, which had about 552 000 visitors in 2023.[114] In addition, in 2023, 1,4 million overnight stays were made in Tamperehotels and 300 000 in other commercial accommodations. The number exceeded the previous record year 2022 by seven percent. Tampere is Finland's second most popular city in terms of hotel stays. Leisure tourism accounted for 865 000 overnight stays and occupational tourism for 551 000. Income from accommodations was 116,9 million euros in 2023 (up 7,2 million from 2022).[115]
Tampere's financial result in 2023 was EUR 55.3 million.[116] The result was heavily affected by one-off payments .[117] In the city's economy, the largest revenues come from taxes and government contributions. In 2023, the city received 477,8 million euros in municipaltax revenue. In addition, 98 million euros came fromcorporate taxes and 105,3 million euros fromproperty taxes.[118] Increase in municipal tax revenue was 6,9 percent, the highest amount among big cities. Government contributions were 58,3 million. Due to the health and social services reform, the statements of municipal and corporation tax revenue or state contributions are not comparable with previous years.[119]
Tampere municipal tax rate in 2024 is 7,6%.[citation needed]
In 2013, Tampereen Energiantuotanto, which is part of theTampereen Energia (formerlyTampereen Sähkölaitos Group), generated 1,254 GWh ofelectricity and 2,184 GWh ofdistrict heating. The two units of theNaistenlahtipower station accounted for about 65% of the total electricity production and theLielahti power station for about 30%. The Naistenlahti and Lielahti units accounted for 57% and 23% of district heating production, respectively. The ten heating centres in Tampere accounted for 21%.[109]: 44
In 2023, the share of renewable energy in the district heating production was around 80%. The goal was to end the use ofpeat completely during that year.Hydropower, wood and nuclear power were used as well as mixed waste, of which 50% is considered renewable.[109]: 44 Emissions from energy production have decreased in the 21st century due to the growth of renewable forms of production and the modernisation of the Naistenlahti power plant. In 2013, about 669,000 tonnes ofcarbon dioxide and 297 tonnes ofsulphur dioxide were emitted.[109]: 46–47
75% of Tampere's domestic water issurface water and 25%groundwater. 58% of the water is diverted to economic use and 13% to industrial use. In addition to Tampere, Tampereen Vesi manages water inPirkkala. Almost all surface water comes fromLake Roine. In addition, Tampereen Vesi has three surface water plants in Lake Näsijärvi and five groundwater intakes.[109]: 68–69 Tampereen Vesi is responsible for 96% of wastewater from Tampere,Kangasala, Pirkkala andYlöjärvi. In 2023, a total of 33 million cubic meters ofwastewater was treated in Tampere. The Viinikanlahtitreatment plant treats more than 75% of wastewater.[109]: 85
The new central treatment plant in Sulkavuori will open in 2025. It is a joint project of Tampere, Kangasala, Pirkkala, Ylöjärvi, Lempäälä and Vesilahti, with a treatment capacity of 100 000 cubic metres of wastewater per day.
Pirkanmaan Jätehuolto handleswaste management in Tampere. It has waste treatment facilities inNokia's Lake Koukkujärvi and Tampere's Lake Tarastenjärvi.[109]: 92
The city of Tampere has 260,646 inhabitants, making it the 3rd most populous municipality in Finland and the tenth in theNordics. TheTampere region, with 424,828 people, is the second largest after theHelsinki metropolitan area. Tampere is home to 5% of Finland's population. 12% of the population has a foreign background, which is above the national average. However, it is lower than in the major Finnish cities ofHelsinki,Espoo,Vantaa orTurku.[122]
The demographic structure of Tampere shows that the city is a very popular place to study, as the number of young adults is significantly higher than in other municipalities in the region. At the end of 2012, the old-agedependency ratio was 45. 19.2% of the population was over the age of 64 in 2024.[109]: 13 Just over half of the population is female, as in the country as a whole. The population is fairly well educated, with two-thirds of those over 15 having completed post-primary education.[123]
At the end of 2018, there were a total of 140,039 dwellings in Tampere, of which 127,639 were permanently occupied and 12,400 were not permanently occupied.[124] Of these, 74% wereapartment buildings, 14% weredetached houses, 10% wereterraced houses, and 2% were other residential buildings. Between 2002 and 2020, more than 40,000 new dwellings will be completed in Tampere.[125] Living space has been growing for a long time, although after 2008 growth came to a virtual standstill. The average living space at the end of 2012 was about 36.8 m2 per inhabitant, compared with about 19.2 m2 in 1970 and about 31.8 m2 in 1990. The average dwelling had about 1.8 inhabitants in 2012.[109]: 13
For more than ten years, Tampere has been one of the most migratory municipalities, as more than 1,930 new residents moved to Tampere in January–September 2021.Nokia,Kangasala andLempäälä, which are among Tampere's neighbouring municipalities, have also been identified as the most migratory municipalities, rising to the list of the 20 most attractive municipalities.[33][34] Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tampere has become Finland's most attractive area for internal migration, as Tampere gained the most migration gains in 2020.[126]
Tampere is the largest monolingualFinnish-speaking municipality. As of 2024[update], the majority of the population, 229,164 persons (88.1%), spoke Finnish as their first language. In addition, the number ofSwedish speakers was 1,421 persons (0.5%) of the population.[122] This is the second largest number of Swedish speakers in monolingual Finnish-speaking municipalities afterKaarina. Kaarina and Tampere are also the only monolingual Finnish-speaking municipalities with a separate Swedish-speaking community. Swedish speakers made up more than 6% of Tampere's population in 1900 and less than 2% in 1950.[127]
Foreign languages were spoken by11.4% of the population.[122] AsEnglish andSwedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.
The proportion of immigrants in Tampere's population is slightly above the national average.[122] Tampere attracts more migration from within Finland than directly from abroad. Nevertheless, the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin. This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years.
In 2019, out of the total population of 238,140, 231,648 people lived inurban areas and 3,132 in sparsely populated areas, while the coordinates of 3,360 people were unknown. This made Tampere's degree of urbanization 98.7%.[129] The urban population in the municipality was divided between three statistical urban areas as follows:[130]
In 2023, theEvangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 56.4% of the population of Tampere. Other religious groups accounted for 3.3% of the population. 40.3% of the population had no religious affiliation.[131]
There are three institutions of higher education in the Tampere area totaling 40,000 students: the university and two polytechnic institutions (Finnish:ammattikorkeakoulu).Tampere University (TUNI) has over 20,000 students and two campuses, one in theKalevanharju district, close to the city centre, and one inHervanta, in the southern part of the city. The institution was formed in 2019 as a result of the merge ofUniversity of Tampere (UTA) andTampere University of Technology (TUT). TUNI is also the major shareholder of theTampere University of Applied Sciences (Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu, TAMK), a polytechnic with about 10,000 students.[134] ThePolice University College, the polytechnic institution serving all of Finland in its field of specialization, is also in Tampere.[135][136]
Tampere University Hospital (Tampereen yliopistollinen sairaala, TAYS) in theKauppi district, one of the main hospitals in Finland, is affiliated with Tampere University. It is a teaching hospital with 34 medical specializations.
TheNurmi district in the northern part of city also houses theTampere Christian School (Tampereen kristillinen koulu), which operates on a co-Christian basis and is maintained by theAdventist Church of Finland, offering free basic education based on Christian basic values and outlook on life for all grades of primary school.[137]
The Tammerkoski rapids in Tampere at night in 2015. The Festival of Light has just opened and an old, large factory chimney is lit in red on the right side of the rapids and contrasts with the blue lighting of the trees beneath it. The array of colours is reflected by the water of the rapids.
Tampere is known for its active cultural life. Some of Finland's most popular writers, such asVäinö Linna,Kalle Päätalo, andHannu Salama, hail from Tampere. They are known particularly for depicting the lives of working-class people, thanks to their backgrounds as members of the working class. Also from such a background was the poetLauri Viita of thePispala district, which was also Salama's original home.[citation needed] On 1 October, Tampere celebratesTampere Day (Finnish:Tampereen päivä), which hosts a variety of public events.[138][93]
Tampere is a strongmedia city. The television center inTohloppi andRistimäki districts has had a nationwideYle TV2 television channel since the 1970s,[93] and Finnish radio, for example, began in Tampere whenArvi Hauvonen founded the first broadcasting station in 1923.[93] Yle TV2 has its roots in Tamvisio, which was transferred toYleisradio (YLE, Finnish National Broadcasting Company) in 1964.Kakkoskanava ("Channel 2") has been a major influence in Tampere, and several well-known television programs and series have been shot in the city,[93] such as TV comediesTankki täyteen,Reinikainen andKummeli. There's also a play park in central Tampere named after the channel's most famous children's programme,Pikku Kakkonen.[139]
Today, Yle operates as a tenant in its old premises, which in 2013 was transformed into a hub for visual media production companies and training institutes called Mediapolis.
TheTampere Film Festival, an annual international short film event, is held every March.[142] Tampere has also served as a filming location for international film productions, most notably the 1993 British comedy filmThe Big Freeze[143] and the 2022 American sci-fi filmDual.[144][145]
In 2014,Aamulehti, which was published in Tampere and was founded in 1881,[146][147] was the third largest newspaper in Finland in terms of circulation, afterHelsingin Sanomat andIlta-Sanomat. The circulation of the magazine was 98 408 (2016).[148] In addition, a free city newspaperTamperelainen (literally translated "Tamperean", meaning person who live in Tampere) will be published in the city.[93] In November 2016, theTamperelainen was awarded the second best city newspaper in Finland.[149]
The city is also known as the home of the popularHydraulic Press Channel on YouTube, which originates from a machine shop owned by Lauri Vuohensilta.[150]
Mustamakkara ("black sausage"), a speciality food from Tampere, is typically consumed with lingonberry jam.Tampere claims to be the "wings capital of Finland", consuming almost half of thehot wings in Finland. The restaurant chainSiipiweikot originates from Tampere. Almost half of the chicken wings sold in Finland are eaten exclusively in Pirkanmaa.[152]
A local food speciality ismustamakkara, which resembles theblack pudding of northern England and blood sausages around Europe. It is a black sausage made by mixing pork, pig's blood and crushed rye and flour and is stuffed into the intestines of an animal. It is commonly eaten withlingonberry sauce. EspeciallyTammelantori square in the district ofTammela is known for itsmustamakkarakiosks, as well asLaukontori in center.[153]
A newer Tampere tradition aremunkki, fresh sugary doughnuts that are sold in several cafés around Tampere, but most traditionally inPyynikki observation tower.[154]
In the 1980s, in addition tomustamakkara and barley bread, the old parish dish of Tampere was also called a potato soup, home-madesmall beer (kotikalja), a sweetened lingonberry porridge and asweetened potato casserole (Imelletty perunalaatikko).[157]
Since 1991, the two-dayfish market event (Tampereen kalamarkkinat) inLaukontori attracts as many as 80,000–100,000 visitors in year, and is held both in the spring onvappu and in the autumn on Tampere Day.[158][159]
Manserock became a general term for rock music from Tampere, which was essentially rock music with Finnish lyrics. Manserock was especially popular during the 1970s and 1980s, and its most popular artists includeJuice Leskinen,Veltto Virtanen,Kaseva,Popeda, andEppu Normaali. In 1977,Poko Rekords, the first record company in Tampere, was founded.[160]
In the 2010s, there has been a lot of popular musical activity in Tampere, particularly in the fields of rock andheavy/black metal; one of the most important metal music events in Tampere is theSauna Open Air Metal Festival.[161] Some of the most popular bands based in Tampere includeNegative,Uniklubi, andLovex. Tampere also has an active electronic music scene. Tampere hosts an annual World of Tango Festival (Maailmantango),[162] which is one of the most significant tango events in Finland next to theTangomarkkinat ofSeinäjoki.
Tampere has a lengthy tradition of theater, with established institutions such asTampereen Työväen Teatteri,Tampereen Teatteri, andPyynikin Kesäteatteri, which is an open-air theatre with the oldestrevolving auditorium in Europe. The longest-running directors of the Tampereen Teatteri include Heikki Vihinen and Rauli Lehtonen, and the Tampereen Työväen Teatteri had Kosti Elo, Eino Salmelainen and Esko Roine.[93]The Tampere Theatre Festival (Tampereen teatterikesä) is an international theatre festival held in the city each August. Tampere also has theTampere Opera, founded in 1946.[163]
Tampere's other professional theaters are Teatteri Siperia; restaurant theater Teatteripalatsi; Teatteri Telakka, known for its artistic experiments; Ahaa Teatteri, which specializes in children's and young people's plays;puppet theater Teatteri Mukamas, and Tanssiteatteri MD, specializes incontemporary dance performances.[164] In addition, there are also threecinemas in Tampere: twoFinnkino's theaters, Cine Atlas andPlevna,[165][166] and private Arthouse Cinema Niagara,[167] which serves as the main venue for the Cinemadrome Festival, which presentshorror,action,sci-fi,trash, and othercult films.[168] Local cinemas also included the historicImatra, formerly located in theKyttälä district, which was completely destroyed on a fire in the midst of a 1924 filmWages of Virtue on 23 October 1927, killing 21 people.[169]
Tampere ostensibly has a long-standing mutual feud with the city ofTurku,[175] the first capital of Finland, and they tend to compete for the title of being the "second grand city of Finland" afterHelsinki.[176][177] This rivalry is largely expressed in jokes in one city about the other; prominent targets are the traditional Tampere food,mustamakkara, the state of theAura River in Turku, and the regional accents. Tampere is well known as a food destination because of its food culture. Since 1997, students at Tampere have made annual excursions to Turku to jump on the market square, doing their part to undo thepost-glacial rebound and push the city back into theBaltic Sea.[178][179]
Tampere is also home to one of the last museums in the world dedicated toVladimir Lenin. The museum is housed in theTampere Workers' Hall (alongHallituskatu) where during a subsequentBolshevik conference in the city, Lenin metJoseph Stalin for the first time.[13][181][182] Lenin moved to Tampere in August 1905, but eventually fled forSweden in November 1907 when being pursued by the RussianOkhrana. Lenin did not return to any part of theRussian Empire until ten years later, when he heard of the start of theRussian Revolution of 1917.Tampere Lenin-museum closed on 3 November 2024 and reopened under the name Nootti (Note) in February 2025.
Pispala is a ridge between the two lakes. It is divided intoYlä-Pispala ("Upper Pispala") andAla-Pispala ("Lower Pispala"). It's the highest gravel ridge in the world, raising 80 m (260 ft) above Lake Pyhäjärvi and around 160 m (520 ft) above sea level. It housed the majority of industrial labour in the late 19th and early 20th century, when it was part ofSuur-Pirkkala and its successorPohjois-Pirkkala. It was a free area to be built upon by the working-class people working in Tampere factories. It joined Tampere in 1937. It is now a residential area undergoing significant redevelopment and together with neighbouringPyynikki forms an important historical area of Tampere.[13]
Tammerfest, Tampere's urban rock festival, is held every July.[191] TheBlockfest, which also takes place in Tampere in the summer,[191] is the largesthip hop event in the Nordic countries.[192]
Tampere's sporting scene is mainly driven byice hockey.[193] The first Finnish ice hockey match was played in Tampere, on the ice ofPyhäjärvi. Tampere is nicknamed the hometown of Finnish ice hockey. Three exceptional ice hockey teams come from Tampere:Tappara,Ilves andKoovee. Especially both Tappara and Ilves have had a great impact on Finnish ice hockey culture and are among the most successful teams in Finland;[193][194] of these, Ilves was the first Tampere-based hockey team to win the1935-1936 Finnish championship.[193] The Finnish ice hockey museum, and the first ice hockey arena to be built in Finland, theHakametsä arena, are both located in Tampere.[101][195] Construction of a new main ice hockey arena,Tampere Deck Arena,[196] began in 2018, and was first opened to the public on 3 December 2021, although the official opening date was on 15 December.[197][198][199][200] The name of the new arena was supposed to beUROS LIVE,[201] but due to the financial difficulties of the sponsor behind it, the name was abandoned.[202] After that,Nokia Corporation was chosen as the new sponsor on 19 November 2021, and the arena was renamedNokia Arena.[203] The arena served as one of the host cities for the2022 IIHF World Championship and the2023 IIHF World Championship.[193][204][205][206]
Like ice hockey,football is also a popular sport in Tampere.Ilves, the professional football club of Tampere,[207] alone has over 4,000 players in its football teams, while Tampere boasts over 100 (mostly junior) football teams.
Basketball is another popular sport in Tampere; the city has three basketball teams with big junior activity and one of them,Tampereen Pyrintö,[208][209] plays on the highest level (Korisliiga) both with men's and women's team. Men's team was the Finnish Champion in 2010, 2011, and 2014.[210]
Tampere was a co-host of theEuroBasket 1967, and the Nokia Arena will host theEuroBasket 2025 as one of the host cities.
Manse PP is the city'spesäpallo team, the only remaining team in the men'sSuperpesis to be based within a major city, and who won the league in 2021, as well as the women's league in 2017.
Tampere has long tradition in various fields of gymnastics. Finnish Gymnastics Federation office is located in Kauppi Sports Centre. Local clubs include Tampereen Voimistelijat, Elixiria Sport, Rantaperkiön Isku, TTNV. Ikuri Gymnatics centre is the main training location. Large competitions are organized in Tampere Fair Centre. Gymnaestrada Finland was held in Tampere in 2022.
To the south of Tampere, there is theTampere Ring Road, which is important for car traffic and which is part ofFinnish highways number3 (on the west side) and number9 (on the east side). The main stretch of the ring road sees over 50,000 vehicles per day,[221] and, according to theELY Centre of Pirkanmaa, the western part of the ring road is the busiest road in Finland, if highway and ring road connections in theHelsinki metropolitan area are excluded.[222] There are also plans for another ring road project that would run from Pirkkala to Tampere'sHervanta and possibly in the future to Kangasala.[223]Teiskontie, which runs east of the city center, is part ofHighway 12 in the direction ofLahti. This highway also runs through the center of Tampere under the namePaasikiven–Kekkosentie,[56]: 75, 77 below the downtown as theTampere Tunnel, which is the longestroad tunnel built in Finland for car traffic.[224]
Tampere is an important railroad hub in Finland and there are direct railroad connections to, for example,Helsinki,Turku and thePort of Turku,Oulu,Jyväskylä, andPori. Every day about 150 trains with an annual total of 8 million passengers arrive and depart in theTampere Central Railway Station, which is located in the city center.[225] There are also frequent bus connections to destinations around Finland.
Tampere is served byTampere–Pirkkala Airport, located in neighboring municipalityPirkkala some 13 km (8 mi) southwest of the city, and it replaced the former Härmälä Airport, which was closed in 1979.[84] The current airport is connected to the city centre of Tampere by bus route 103, and to that of Pirkkala by bus route 39.[226]
In 2015, the Port of Tampere,[227] the charter port area carrying passengers on the shores ofLake Näsijärvi andLake Pyhäjärvi,[228] was the busiestinland waterway in Finland in terms of the number of passengers (71,750).[229] A partial explanation for the high number of passengers can be found in the summer traffic to theViikinsaari island in Lake Pyhäjärvi, where people travel for an excursion or various cultural events such as watching a summer theater.[230] Domestic passenger and connecting vessel traffic was only busier in the Finnish sea area in theHelsinki Metropolitan Area, between mainland Finland andÅland in theArchipelago Sea.[229]
The public transport network in Tampere currently consists of a bus network and two lines ofcity's light rail, operating from 9 August 2021.[231] TheTampere Bus Station, designed by Jaakko Laaksovirta andBertel Strömmer, representingfunctionalist architecture, was completed in 1938,[232][233]: 203–204 being the largest bus station in theNordic countries at the time,[234] and between 1948 and 1976, the city also had an extensivetrolleybus network, which was also the largest trolleybus system in Finland.[235] As of 2017,commuter rail service on the railroad lines connecting Tampere to the neighbouring towns ofNokia andLempäälä is being established.[236]
In the 2010s, Tampere has made efforts to invest in the smooth running ofcycling andwalkability.[237] Thanks to it, the city was awarded the title of "Cycling Municipality of the Year" in 2013.[238] According to a survey conducted in 2015, the attractiveness of both cycling and walking had increased during 2014 and 2015.[239] In any case, during the 21st century, the growth of bicycle traffic has been clearly faster than the growth of the city's population, and the number of cycles has increased by an average of about 2% per year.[240]
In 2007, Tampere switched to a new model of government. Since then, a mayor and four deputy mayors have been chosen for a period of four years by thecity council. The mayor also becomes the seat of the city council for the duration of the tenure.
Tampere was the first Finnish municipality to be elected mayor.[241] The mayor has no official relationship with the municipality; they serve as chair of the city board and direct the municipality's activities. The mayor's duties are defined in the city government's bylaws.[241] Because the mayor and deputy mayors are trustees, they can be removed by the council if they lose the majority trust.[93]
For the first two years,Timo P. Nieminen, representing theNational Coalition Party from 2007 to 2012, served as mayor. In 2013,Anna-Kaisa Ikonen of the same party was elected mayor.[241] As of 1 June 2017, the number of deputy mayors decreased from four to three.[242]Lauri Lyly (SDP) was elected Mayor of the City of Tampere for the period 2017–2021 at the City Council meeting on 12 June 2017.[241]
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