Järvenpää (Swedish: Träskända) is a city of about 46,000
inhabitants in the province of Uusimaa. It is the 25th largest
municipality in Finland (2021). Järvenpää belongs to Central
Uusimaa, and its neighboring municipalities are Mäntsälä in the
northeast, Sipoo in the east and Tuusula in the south, west and
north. Järvenpää is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area and is
one of the framework municipalities of the Helsinki region. The area
of Järvenpää is 39.93 km², of which 37.54 km² is land and 2.39 km²
is inland water. Järvenpää is the seventh smallest municipality in
Finland in terms of surface area and the fourth densest municipality
in terms of population density.
Järvenpää is located about 35
kilometers north of Helsinki and about 70 kilometers south of Lahti.
The city is built on the northern end of Tuusulanjärvi, and its
urban structure rests on the main railway. Almost the entire
population of Järvenpää lives in the Helsinki city center area.
Järvenpää is known as the residence of Jean Sibelius and Juhani
Aho, among others. The city's most famous attractions are several
home museums, such as Ainola, Ahola and Villa Kokkonen. There is
also an art museum in Järvenpää, the permanent collection of which
exhibits the works of Venny Soldan-Brofeldt and Eero Järnefelt.
Järvenpää is divided into 25 districts, the largest of which are
Pöytäalho, Jamppa, Keskus, Pajala and Kyrölä. The city districts are
divided into eight different large districts.
Järvenpää is widely known for its artists' home museums, such as Jean
Sibelius's Ainola, which is located about two kilometers south of the
city center. The master composer moved with his family to a sturdy log
villa designed by Lars Sonck in September 1904. Juhani Aho moved with
her husband, painter Venny Soldan-Brofeldt, to Järvenpää in November
1897. They lived for 14 years on the shore of Tuusulanjärvi in a villa
called Vårbacka, which was later named Ahola. In 1901, Suviranta, the
studio-home of the Eero Järnefelt family, was completed in the same
area. When Sibelius and the painter Eero Järnefelt and their family
followed Ajo and settled in their neighborhood, the unique Tuusulanjärvi
artist community began. Ainola and Ahola are open to the public in
summer, while Suviranta is still owned by the family as a private home.
On the shores of Tuusulanjärvi, on the opposite side of Ainola, is
Villa Kokkonen designed by Alvar Aalto, the artist home of academician
Joonas Kokkonen. The building that currently serves as a presentation
object has been called a sketch of Finlandia Hall. The house is open to
the public on a limited basis during the summer, and it can also be
rented for meetings and parties. Ainola's sister villa, Villa Cooper,
which serves as a sales showroom, operates in the city center.
The collections of the art museum located in the center of Järvenpää
include works by Venny Soldan-Brofeldt and Eero Järnefelt. In addition,
the museum organizes changing themed exhibitions and side programs, such
as artist meetings, workshops and public lectures.
One of the
purest examples of modern architecture and 1960s concrete brutalism is
Järvenpää church. The church was designed by the architect Erkki Elomaa
and was completed in December 1968. The church's altar crucifix was
carved by Järvenpää sculptor Erkki Eronen. The crucifix is of Douglas
fir. The unusual cube-shaped bell tower of the church has become the
symbol of Järvenpää parish. Academician Joonas Kokkonen has composed six
different tunes for the tower's bells. This 625-seat church has been
protected by a decision of the church board as a typical representative
of the architecture of its era.
The Järvenpää mosque, located in
the Kinnar district, is the only building in Finland that was
purpose-built as a mosque. It was built by the Tatars in the 1940s and
also has a minaret.
Proceedings
Located in the center of
Järvenpää, the Järvenpää building hosts cultural events throughout the
year, such as concerts, theater performances and art exhibitions. There,
e.g., every women's day women's day fair. The Järvenpää Sibelius Week
concerts are also organized in Järvenpää house.
At the beginning
of May, Järvenpää Day is organized in the city center and in the autumn
the Maa läää market event is held. Värinää weeks are held in spring and
winter.
The annual music festival in the city starts after
Midsummer, Puistoblues. The blues week starts at the "blues street" in
the center, in addition, concerts and jams are organized in clubs and
restaurants. The main concert is at the end of the blues week on
Saturday in Vanhankylänniemi.
At the turn of July and August,
Järvenpää organizes our Festival (formerly the Tuusulanjärvi Chamber
Music Festival), whose artistic director is violinist Pekka Kuusisto.
During the event, concerts are organized in Tuusulanjärvi artist homes,
churches and concert halls.
The revival party was organized in
Järvenpää in 2001.
Järvenpää's Lepola is also home to one of the
largest event venues in the Helsinki region, the Aino-arena, where
several sports and music events and trade fairs are held every year.
Food culture
In the 1980s, carrot box, salted herring sauce,
palvi ham, hokkaloora (potato box) and rosolli were named Järvenpää's
main dishes.
Järvenpää's K-Citymarket was voted the best grocery
store in the world in 2019 and has also become famous for its sushi.
Media
The local newspaper of Järvenpää, Kerava and Tuusula region
is Keski-Uusimaa. Viikkouutiset Järvenpää, a free magazine published by
Keski-Uusimaa, is distributed in Järvenpää.
94% of Järvenpää's surface area is land and 6% is water. The city is
located at the northern end of Tuusulanjärvi. The Tuusulanjärvi bird
reserve with its nature trails and bird towers right next to the city
center is a nature reserve belonging to the Natura 2000 program. There
is also a nature trail in Vanhankylänniemi, also on the shore of
Tuusulanjärvi. Tuusulanjärvi has been heavily eutrophicated due to the
influence of both farming and community structure, and efforts have been
made to care for it in recent years. The Keravanjoki river flows through
the eastern parts of the city, along which the Lemmenlaakso grove is
another of Järvenpää's Natura 2000 nature reserves. The whole of
Järvenpää belongs to the Vantaanjoki catchment area. The watershed
between the Tuusulanjärvi and Keravanjoki watersheds runs from the
ridges of the northwestern parts of the city through the center to the
southeast.
The landscape structure of Järvenpää is a clay plain
typical of the southern coast, from which rise rocky cored moraine hills
in many places. The rock ridges form almost north-south lines. The city
is built on gently rolling terrain in many places. In some places, the
area also has sand and sandy soil, as well as several valleys.
The proximity of the sea moderates Järvenpää's winter, but less so than
on the coast. The climate of Järvenpää belongs to the continental part
of Southern Finland, where the cooling effect of the Gulf of Finland is
no longer felt in the same way as on the coast. The water contained in
Saviko cools the city's local climate. Moraine hills, on the other hand,
are warmer and toastier than clay. Winds in the area mainly blow from
the southwest.
There are about 100 hectares of parks and 250
hectares of park forests in Järvenpää. One of the biggest parks in the
city is Järvenpää Beach Park, located on the shore of Lake Tuusulan.
Nature studies
In Järvenpää, in connection with the preparation
of the 2020 general plan, a vegetation survey based on a square
inventory (1997–2000) and a plant biotope survey (2000–2001) have been
carried out. The birdlife of Lemmenlaakso was surveyed in 1996 and the
pygmy species in 2002. The management and use plan of Vanhankyläniemi
was approved in 2005.
Järvenpää was formerly a village belonging to Tuusula, which
originally also included Kellokoski. The largest of its buildings was
once the Kyrölä stable, which in the 18th century expanded into the
Järvenpää manor. The highway from Helsinki to Heinola used to go through
Järvenpää. In 1862, Finland's first railway from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna
was completed, and from the beginning one of the way stations was in
Järvenpää.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Järvenpää
manor was owned by agricultural advisor Bjarne Westermarck. He planned
to turn it into a Finnish agricultural development center and a model
farm where experiments and research activities would be carried out.
However, due to financial reasons, he had to give up his plan, and
instead decided to develop Järvenpää's station area into a center for
housing and small industry. He considered that there were good
opportunities for this, because the area was located fairly close to
Helsinki with good transport connections. On Westermarck's commission,
land surveying engineer Wolmar Svaetich prepared a site plan for the
settlement and also gave the names of the roads. Smaller farming farms
were also separated from the manor, two of which were bought by the
state and established for them Maatalousnormalakoulu and
Kotitalousopettajaopisto.
In 1929, Järvenpää already had about
2,000 inhabitants.
After the Winter War, a large part of the
inhabitants of Terijoki were settled in Järvenpää and its surroundings.
Unlike the other residents of the ceded areas, most of them were not
able to return to their former home region even during the Continuation
War, because Terijoki remained a war zone throughout the war. After the
war, immigrants comprised about a third of Järvenpää's residents. Plots
were redeemed for them in the area of Ånäs, Seutula, Haarajoki and
Isokydö, while frontline plots were formed in Terioja and Anttila. In
1949, Järvenpää already had about 4,000 inhabitants.
Setting up a
store
The question of separating Järvenpää into its own municipality
or possibly a township came up already in the 1920s, at the same time
when Keravak also separated from Tuusula. In 1923, the people of
Järvenpää proposed the establishment of a separate municipality of
Järvenpää, which would have also included Tuomala, Nummenkylä and
Kellokoski. In 1927, Bjarne Westermarck made a proposal to establish
Järvenpää township. The State Council entrusted the investigation of the
matter to the Ministry of the Interior, but the investigator appointed
by the ministry rejected the proposal.
The issue came up again
when Järvenpää's population grew rapidly after the Second World War.
When the local conditions greatly differed from the usual rural
community, it was considered more and more necessary to form a separate
township from the locality. At a meeting held in April 1949, the
residents decided to submit a petition on the matter to the Government.
On February 17, 1950, the State Council made a decision to establish
Järvenpää township, which came into effect at the beginning of 1951.
However, the question of the boundaries of the new township raised a
lot of controversy. In the opinion of the initiators, it should have
included the villages of Järvenpää and Tuomala in their entirety, part
of Vanhastakylä and the Kellokoski factory community and parts of the
Mäntsälänki area in its vicinity. In that case, the area of the township
would have been 61 km² and the number of inhabitants almost 8,400.
According to one proposal, Jokela would also have been included in the
new township. The municipality of Tuusula also approved the
establishment of a township, but stipulated that it should not include
farming regions, and the areas north of Kellokoski, Tuomala and
Saunakallio, as well as the areas of agricultural schools should be
excluded. In that case, the area of the town would have been 28.5 km²
and the population about 6,000. The southern border of the town would
have been Tervanokka on the shore of Tuusulanjärvi, the northern border
Halkiantie. The people of Kellokoski also opposed the annexation of
their home town to the new township.
Tuusula was initially
proposed as the name of the new township, as it was assumed that the
remaining rural municipality of Tuusula would have been divided among
the neighboring municipalities before long. However, when it was decided
that even after shrinking this municipality would still be viable, it
was decided to keep the name and Järvenpää was chosen as the town's
name.
According to the decision made by the State Council on
February 17, 1950, in addition to Järvenpää village, Kellokoski and
parts of Vanhastakylä and Tuomala villages were part of the township.
However, the State Council already made a new decision on June 30 of the
same year, according to which Kellokoski and part of Nummenkylä remained
part of Tuusula. The area of the store thus became 41.4 km², and the
number of inhabitants at the beginning of 1951 was 8,244 people.
However, the question of the location of the municipal border has been
returned to several times in the past 50 years.
Järvenpää became
a city at the beginning of 1967. At that time, Järvenpää had 14,606
inhabitants. By 1980, the city's population had grown to around 23,000,
and in 2015, the city's population had already crossed the 40,000 mark.
Järvenpää is located along Lahdenväylä, or highway 4. There are two
exits from the motorway to the city. Tuusulanväylä (main road 45)
together with regional road 145 also leads to Järvenpää. Regional road
146 leads to Pornais from Järvenpää, connecting road to Jokela 1421 and
Pohjoisväylä or connecting road 1456 to Kellokoski. It is ten kilometers
to Kerava from Järvenpää, 25 kilometers to Hyvinkää, 35 kilometers to
Helsinki and 70 kilometers to Lahti.
Finland's main railway runs
through the center of Järvenpää, and the Lahti straight line built in
2006 alongside Lahdenväylä skirts the city on its eastern edge. In
addition to the main station, the stations of the main line are Ainola,
Saunakallio and Purola, although there has been no passenger traffic in
Purola since March 2016. R and T trains of the Helsinki region's local
transport between Helsinki and Riihimäki/Tampere stop at the stations,
and D trains also stop at the main station. The right-of-way serves the
residents of Järvenpää through the Haarajoki station, from which there
is a connection with the Z train to Helsinki and Lahti. The nearest
long-distance train stations are located in Tikkurila and Riihimäki,
where all local trains passing through Järvenpää also stop; Via
Tikkurila station there is also a connection with the I train to
Helsinki-Vantaa airport. There are plenty of bus connections to Helsinki
via Hyrylä. The same bus routes also serve in the direction of Mäntsälä.
After Tuusula became a member of HSL from the beginning of 2018, the
trains and buses passing through Järvenpää to the towns of Jokela and
Kellokoski have tickets containing HSL's D zone. The residents of
Järvenpäälä could not then buy cheaper ABCD season tickets, because the
city was not yet a member of HSL. For the same reason, HSL tickets were
not valid on Järvenpää's internal buses. In October 2019, it was decided
that Järvenpää will join HSL's regional transport area from the
beginning of 2022, but the joining had to be postponed to 2024 due to
the coronavirus pandemic.
Järvenpää is divided into three areas that organize basic education.
The central areas of Järvenpää and the areas west of Tuusulanjärvi
belong to the Kartano area, where the operating schools are Harjula
school (grades 1–6), Mankala school (grades 1–6) and Kartano school
(grades 1–9). Southeastern Järvenpää belongs to the Yhteiskoulu area,
where Kinnari school (grades 1–9), Kyrölä school (grades 1–6) and
Järvenpää joint school (grades 1–9) operate. Pohjoinen Järvenpää belongs
to the Koivusaari area, where Anttila school (grades 1–6), Haarajoki
school (grades 1–6), Saunakallio school (grades 1–6) and Koivusaari
school (grades 7–9) operate. Regionally, Juhola's special school belongs
to the Yhteiskoulu area, but it covers the whole city.
Järvenpää
high school is the second largest high school in Finland. Vocational
education in Järvenpää is offered by Keuda Vocational College in Central
Uusimaa and Special Vocational School Spesia. Järvenpää University
offers open university studies and hundreds of different courses and
lectures. In addition, Seurakuntaopisto and Luther-opisto operate in
Järvenpää, which are located on the shore of Lake Tuusulanjärvi. Until
the end of 2015, the Järvenpää unit of Diakonia University of Applied
Sciences also operated in the premises of the parish college.
The Järvenpää city library operates in the Pöytäalho district, right in the city center at Kirjastokatu 8. It belongs to the Kirkes library network together with the Tuusula, Mäntsälä and Kerava libraries.
Järvenpää belongs to the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district and the Hyvinkää hospital district. Järvenpää's new social and health center (JUST), opened at the beginning of 2017, is located in the Pöytäalho district. It serves acute patients daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; at other times, Hyvinkää hospital serves the residents of Järvenpäää. There are four pharmacies in Järvenpää.