Lohja is a Finnish city located in the province of Uusimaa. The city is officially bilingual, although it is not obliged to do so on the basis of linguistic relations; 3.5% of its inhabitants speak Swedish as their mother tongue. Lohja's neighboring municipalities are Inkoo, Karkkila, Raseborg, Salo, Siuntio, Somero, Tammela and Vihti.
The city structure is a strip station in
the direction of Lohjanharju, which starts from the E-18 motorway
and continues along the Hanko-Hyvinkää road to Virkkala. The parts
of the strip station from the east are Muijala, Perttilä, Lempola
Shopping Park, Ventelä, Asemaseutu, Keskilohja, Ojamo, Tynninharju
and Virkkala. Uusimaa's largest lake, Lohjanjärvi, is largely in the
municipality. Hormajärvi is located entirely in Lohja. Finland's
largest natural cave, Torhola Cave, is located in Lohja. There are a
total of 141 lakes and ponds in the municipality.
The nature
of the Lohja region is considered to be uniquely rich. Noble
deciduous trees, walnut shrubs and grove plants thrive in the area’s
limestone cliffs. On the back of the block, the vegetation is mainly
barren of dry pine cloth on sandy soils. In the clay clays of the
Lohjanjärvi region, the vegetation is more lush, and extensive
spruce forests dominate the landscape. In terms of vegetation, Lohja
is located in the border area of the northern boreal coniferous
forests and the transition zone of coniferous forests and deciduous
forests, the hemiboreal zone. Compared to the rest of southern
Finland, the area is particularly rich in walnut shrubs and blue
anemones. The vegetation also has its own characteristic of the
calcareous soil, which is a large deposit around Lake Lohjanjärvi.
The lime effect combined with the mild microclimate created by the
lakes, as well as the south-western location, enable the abundant
grove vegetation of the Lohja region.
Located on the shores
of Lake Lohjanjärvi, the Karkali Nature Reserve is known for its
extensive walnut shrub groves, its flowering white anemone and
yellow anemone, and its oak and lime forests. The finest groves in
southern Finland are created by calcareous land and a nearby lake,
which make rare groves thrive. Archbishop Gustaf Johansson fell in
love with the place more than a hundred years ago.
There are
also a few protected alpine groves on the shores of Lake
Lohjanjärvi, which are unique in Finnish conditions and have plenty
of both pencil and mountain pedestals.
Lohja is probably also
home to Finland's most famous cave, the Torhola limestone cave. It
is the largest karst cave in Finland, which is formed when acidic
water soaks limestone. The cave is 31 meters long and at its lowest
at a depth of 9 meters. The beginning of the cave is easily
accessible, but in the last chamber, the so-called Torhola basement,
you have to crawl through narrow cavities.
Next to
Karkalinniemi is the Karstu Castle Hill, which is thought to have
been one of Finland's hundreds of ancient castles. From its top
there are handsome views to the west to Lake Lohjanjärvi. There is
also a matte rock painting on site.
The oldest settlement findings in Lohja date back eight thousand
years. Later, people from Häme and Southwest Finland moved to Lohja.
Based on the place names, the area has been home to settlements
originating from Southwest Finland, especially Haliko. The lands of
Hiitti, or Hiidenkylä, were inhabited in the 5th–8th centuries, and
spearheads from the Migration Period have been found in Nummi Hyrsylä,
which belonged to the Lohja parish. Lohja has two ancient Iron Age
castles, Pöykärin Linnanmäki and Uusipöylin linnavuori.
From the
13th century, Swedish colonization extended to Lohja in addition to the
rest of Uusimaa. Lohja was a manor in the Middle Ages, the oldest
written mention of which dates back to 1323. In addition to the area of
the present city of Lohja, Greater Lohja included Vihti, Karkkila,
Nummi-Pusula, Sammatti, Karjalohja and the northern part of Siuntio.
Manor houses were established in the area – Kirkniemi, whose history is
known from 1417 onwards, and Laakspohja.
Lohja St. Lawrence
Church, located in the centre of Lohja, is the third largest medieval
grey stone church in Finland. It was built at the end of the 15th
century and is known for its rich wall paintings.
Finland's first
mine was opened in Ojamo in the mid-16th century. The Mustio ironworks
was established to process its ore.
Lohja is known for its
apples. Apples arrived in Lohja via Siuntio in the 1530s, when Erik
Fleming, the owner of the Suitia manor in Siuntio and the Laamann of
Southern Finland, brought apple tree seedlings from Tallinn to his
garden. Soon, apple trees also appeared in another great manor in
Siuntio – Sjundby. Sjundby was ruled by the Tottit Henrik – and his wife
Sigrid Vaasa – the daughter of the King of Sweden. The Tottits also
ruled the most significant large estate in Lohja at the time, Kirkniemi
Manor, whose surroundings were better suited to apple growing than
Sjundby, so apples were also planted in Kirkniemi’s calcareous and loamy
soil. The example of Kirkniemi Manor was first followed by other large
manors in Lohja, such as Laakspohja Manor, the vicar of Iso-Pappila, the
wealthy rusthollars and the people of Lohja.
The first school in
the Finnish-speaking countryside was established in Lohja in 1659. After
the mid-19th century, Lohja developed rapidly. The parish had two
settlements, the industrial settlement of Virkkala and the service
centre Lohjannummi that had emerged around the church. The first shop in
Lohjannummi was established in 1861, a pharmacy in 1862 and a post
office in 1865. In 1865, the first steam sawmill was started in
Virkkala, the same year that a lending library was established in the
parish. Lohja received municipal administration in 1867. A savings bank
was opened in 1870. From 1897 onwards, limestone was processed in Lohja,
in 1906 the Mustio ironworks patron Hjalmar Linder had a cellulose
factory built and in 1907 a glass factory was opened in Lohja. The first
Finnish-language school in rural Western Uusimaa began operating in
1914. A paper mill was established in Kirkniemi in the mid-1960s. In
1978, the Lohja rural municipality changed its name to the municipality
of Lohja.
In 2007, Sammatti decided to join the city of Lohja, and the merger
took effect on 1 January 2009. Karjalohja, in turn, joined the city of
Lohja on 1 January 2013. Merger negotiations had begun in March 2008.
Siuntio and Nummi-Pusula began merger negotiations with Lohja in
January 2011. Inkoo, which had been involved initially, withdrew from
the project. In Siuntio, the majority of the council also opposed the
merger in spring 2012, which led Lohja and Nummi-Pusula to decide that
only Nummi-Pusula would join Lohja, and previously Karjalohja had
decided. The mergers took effect at the beginning of 2013. The
Government made a decision on the merger in June 2012.
In 1911, Lohjannummi became a populated community, officially called
Lohjannummi – Lojobacken. In 1926, Lohjankylä and the isolated farms of
Pappila, Moisio and Ojamo were separated from the municipality of Lohja
to form the Lohja township. At the same time, the word maalaiskunta was
added to the name of the surrounding municipality of Lohja as a
distinction. It included those parts that did not become part of the new
township.
In 1953, Lohja township became a monolingual
Finnish-speaking municipality. The township was granted city rights in
1969. A referendum on municipal merger was held in Lohja and the
bilingual municipality of Lohja in 1995, and the municipalities merged
on 1 January 1997. The merged Lohja has voluntarily continued to be
bilingual.
According to Olof Eriksson, who drew the coat of arms, the heraldic explanation of the coat of arms of the city of Lohja is: In the blue field, there is a silver halster on a stake; on each side of its stem, a golden nut cluster accompanies it. The nut clusters tell of Lohja's lush nature. The halster is the symbol of Lohja's patron saint, Saint Laurin - Saint Laurin is said to have died tortured on a hot halster. In addition to the church, one of Lohja's three main streets, Laurinkatu, is named after the patron saint. The coat of arms was previously the coat of arms of the municipality of Lohja, which became the coat of arms of the merged municipality and city. Before that, the city of Lohja used a coat of arms designed by Ahti Hammari, the explanation of which is: in the blue field, three silver, silver-red flamed blast furnaces side by side, in the base a silver red-striped salmon.
The city of Lohja celebrated its 700th anniversary in 2023. The
parish of Lohja was first mentioned in written sources in 1323. Older
written records can only be found in four rural locations in Southwest
Finland and one city; Turku.
The main celebration of Lohja's
centenary was held on 10–13 August 2023. Among others, the bishop of the
Diocese of Espoo, Kaisamari Hintikka, and ministerial-level speakers
were invited to the event.