Kaarina (Swedish: S: t Karins) is a city in Finland. The city has a population of 34,294 and an area of 179.58 km², of which 1.05 km² are water bodies. The population density is 227.64 inhabitants / km². Kaarina's border neighbors are Lieto, Parainen, Paimio, Sauvo and Turku.
Prehistory and early history
In Kaarina's
Ravattula, Muikunvuori has a prehistoric Stone Age and Iron Age
residence with a burning cemetery, two sacrificial stones and an
Iron Age mound. Keetterinmäki has two Bronze Age burial mounds, one
of which has been found with the burnt bones of three deceased. Two
ancient castles are known from Kaarina, Huttala Castle Mountain and
Pussila Castle Mountain. Huttala Castle Hill has been in use since
the Bronze Age.
The area called Kaarina is first mentioned
next to Turku in 1309. At that time, Kaarina was still a parish. Its
name comes from the Church of St. Catherine in the former district
of the parish. The church now belongs to Turku, but the old coat of
arms of Kaarina still depicted St. Catherine of Alexandria and a
road bike (i.e. a catherine's wheel).
The parish was also
initially called Numme, according to its then central village.
Although Kaarina, based on the name of the church, became
established as the name of the parish, Nummi survived alongside it
for a long time. As far back as 1916, there is information that the
folk name of the municipality would be Nummi.
Medieval church
Remains of a medieval church dating from about the 12th century have
been found in Ravattula, Kaarina. The discovery was announced in
September 2013. Ravattula Church was a narrow-bodied building with a
length of about ten and a width of six meters. It is located in the
middle of a vast cemetery previously found. Part of the cemetery is
almost a thousand years old. This is the oldest church found in
Finland.
Kuusisto Castle and Manor
On the island of
Kuusisto are the ruins of a 14th-century episcopal castle, from
which it is still possible to identify in what kind of fortress the
bishops of the Finnish Catholic Church were safe until the
Reformation. The castle was demolished by order of Gustav Vaasa in
1528.
Near the ruins of Kuusisto Castle is Kuusisto Manor,
built in 1738, which served as the office building of the Colonel of
the Turku Infantry Regiment. Before the manor in the Middle Ages, it
housed the Kuusisto Latokartano, which took care of the farming and
animal husbandry of the bishop's castle. Since the summer of 2013,
the manor has housed a multi-sensory art exhibition venue, a café
and an artist's residence under the name Taidekartano.
Historical events
The Finnish War began on February 21, 1808,
when Russia crossed the Finnish border to get Sweden to join the
embargo against Britain to strengthen France's position. The Swedish
troops landed on 19 June in Lemunniemi, Kaarina, behind the
Russians. A memorial by artist Heidi Limnell was unveiled in June
2008 in honor of the Battle of Lemu 200 years ago.
Kaarina
was declared an independent municipality on February 6, 1869. This
year is considered to be the official founding year of Kaarina.
Originally, in addition to its current areas, Kaarina comprised most
of the areas south or east of the Aura River outside Turku, which
now belong to Turku.
A memorial plaque has long been held on
the wall of the old railway station building in the village of
Littoinen on the Kaarina side in honor of V. I. Lenin's escape from
Russia and left the train in Littoinen in 1907. Today, the memorial
plaque is attached to a large memorial stone next to the station
building.
Contemporary Kaarina
In 1939, Nummi, which
surrounded St. Catherine's Church, was annexed to Turku. This
happened on Kaarina's own initiative, as the maintenance of the
workers' district on the Turku border became expensive for the
municipality. However, Kaarina received practical compensation for
this when the municipality of Kuusisto was annexed to Kaarina in
1946.
Around 1960, Littoinen was still the largest
agglomeration in Kaarina, but due to its location, it was not
suitable as a new agglomeration. Thus, an urban center was built in
Ylikylä. As a result, the municipality's focus shifted more to the
region at the intersection of the road to Parais.
In 1993,
Kaarina considered that she met the requirements for a city and
declared herself a city.
On December 17, 2007, the municipal
councils of Kaarina and Piikkiö reached an agreement according to
which Piikkiö will be merged with Kaarina. The union took effect on
January 1, 2009. The name of the expanding city remained Kaarina,
but the coat of arms was taken as the coat of arms of Piikkiö.