Mikkeli (Swedish: S: t Michel) is a city in Finland and the
regional center of Southern Savonia, located on the northwestern
shore of Lake Saimaa in the province of Southern Savonia.
The
city has a population of 53,028 and an area of 3,229.57 km², of
which 681.22 km² are water bodies. There are about 700 lakes and
ponds in the city. The population density is 20.8 inhabitants / km².
Outside the city center and the immediately related areas of
Rantakylä and Moisio-Tuukkala, the most densely populated areas are
the church villages of the former municipalities of Anttola and
Ristiina, the town of Otava and the Asemankylä of Haukivuori.
Mikkeli's neighboring municipalities are Hirvensalmi, Juva,
Kangasniemi, Mäntyharju, Pieksämäki, Puumala and Savitaipale.
Mikkeli is located on the watershed between the Vuoksi watershed
and the Kymijoki watershed. The city center is on the shores of
Saimaa's Savilahti. The lakes in the eastern part of the city belong
to the Vuoksi watershed. In the west, the city reaches Puulavesi,
which is part of the Mäntyharju route in the Kymijoki watershed. To
the north, the city extends to Kyyvesi, which flows into Puulavesi.
The mayor of Mikkeli is Timo Halonen. When the Mikkeli council
elected the mayor in the spring of 2015, Halonen won Olli
Naukkarinen's vote 33-26. Halonen took up the position in early
autumn 2015.
Mikkeli has the largest number of holiday homes
in Finland.
Prehistory
The oldest found signs of settlement in
the Mikkeli region are from the Stone Age combing period 4000–2000
BC. The finds known from this era consist of dwellings. It has been
speculated that the oldest settlements have disappeared under the
floodwaters that left the Vuoksi outbreak. Archaeological
excavations in the region have been carried out in the Iron Age
settlements of Tuukkala, Visulahti, Orijärvi and Kenkävero, among
others. The Iron Age castle mountains are the castle mountains of
Sairila, Otava, Vatila and Otrala.
Historical time
The
oldest written mentions of the settlement of the present-day Mikkeli
region date back to 1323 from the Treaty of Peace on Pähkinäsaari,
by which the Savilahti pogo (Novgorod parish) was transferred from
Novgorod to Sweden. According to the archangel Michael, the place
Mikkeli was named at the beginning of the 16th century at the
latest. The members of the German colony moved to the shores of Lake
Tarsalanjärvi in 1540, to the then parish of Vesulahti
(Visulahti). Mikael Agricola paid an inspection visit to Savilahti
in 1549.
In the Battle of Suur-Savo of the Mallet War in
1597, more than 200 peasant rebel soldiers were killed in the
Mikkeli parish rectory in Kenkävero.
In the War of Gustav
III, in 1789, a few kilometers south of the church village of
Mikkeli, the Battle of Porrassalmi was fought, in which
Swedish-Finnish troops won the victory over the overwhelming
Russians.
Mikkeli received city rights in 1838 from the
Russian emperor Nicholas I. Its town plan was drawn up by C. L.
Engel. The formula was a grid layout, with most blocks comprising
six plots. The county government of Mikkeli county, founded in 1831,
moved from Heinola to Mikkeli in 1843.
The time of
independent Finland
During the Civil War (1918), Mikkeli was one
of the places from which the activities of the government, the
forces of the Republic of Finland, ie the whites, were led. During
the Second World War, during the Winter, Continuation and Lapland
Wars (1939–1940, 1941–1944 and 1944–1945), the Finnish Army
headquarters were located in Mikkeli and the war leadership was
housed in the Mikkeli Central School, completed in 1902. was opened
in 1989. Due to the location of the headquarters, Mikkeli was one of
the most bombed cities in Finland during the war. During the Second
World War, the Liaison Staff of the Nazi German Army Nord also
operated in Mikkeli. After the war, a settler from Raud was
stationed in Mikkeli.
Mikkeli is the only Finnish place to
have been awarded the Cross of Liberty - the 4th grade Cross of
Liberty with its swords - in 1944 as a thank you for serving as the
headquarters city in every four wars of independent Finland. The
coat of arms of the city bears the coat of arms of Mikkeli, at the
top of which there are two crossed marshal sticks, also in memory of
serving as the headquarters.
In August 1986, a car exploded
on the outskirts of Mikkeli Square during a police siege, which had
escaped the man who had robbed the Kansallis-Osake-Pankki branch in
Jakomäki, Helsinki, the previous day. The blast killed a bank robber
and one of his three hostages. The series of events is known as the
Mikkeli hostage drama.
In the county reform in 1997, Mikkeli
became the capital of the Province of Eastern Finland and, after the
counties ceased to exist, the headquarters of the Regional State
Administrative Agency of Eastern Finland and the Etelä-Savo Center
for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in 2010.
In 2001, Mikkeli, Anttola and the rural municipality of Mikkeli
merged to form the new city of Mikkeli. Haukivuori joined Mikkeli in
2007, and in 2013 Ristiina and Suomenniemi also joined Mikkeli.