Nurmes is a city in Finland, located in the province of North
Karelia at the northern end of Pielinen. After the 2020 municipal
union, the city will be home to 9,787 people and will cover an area
of 2,692.85 km², of which 291.49 km² will be water bodies. The
population density is 4.07 inhabitants / km² and the land area is
2,401.36 km². The current city of Nurmes comprises the former Nurmes
town hall and the associated Nurmes rural municipality and the
municipality of Valtimo.
Nurmes' neighboring municipalities
are Juuka in the south, Lieksa in the southeast, Kuhmo in the
northeast, Sotkamo in the north and Rautavaara in the west. The
municipality of Artery was merged with Nurmes on 1 January 2020.
The origin of the name is in Nurmesjärvi. The word Nurmes comes
from the Karelian word grass, which means meadow like coastal
meadow. The most central part of Nurmes city center is located on a
ridge between Nurmesjärvi and Pielinen.
Nurmes hosts a lot of
musical activities during Christmas, such as various concerts and
events. Nurmes was declared the Christmas City of Finland in 2005
and the City of European Christmas Songs in 2009.
Nurmes is located in eastern Finland on the shores
of Lake Pielinen, in the province of North Karelia on the border of
Kainuu and North Savo. Nurmes' neighboring municipalities are Juuka,
Kuhmo, Lieksa, Rautavaara and Sotkamo. The nearest larger cities by
road are Kuopio (128 km), Joensuu (127 km) and Kajaani (113 km).
There is a distance of 160 kilometers by rail from Nurmes to
Joensuu, when the railway circulates through Lieksa. The distance
from Nurmes to the Finnish capital Helsinki is 518 km by road and
can be reached by rail by changing from a commuter train to a
long-distance train in Joensuu. Near Nurmes are Tahko Tourist Center
(121 km), Vuokatti Ski Center (88 km), Koli National Park (78 km),
Tiilikkajärvi National Park (56 km) and Hiidenportti National Park
(44 km).
Nature
Nurmes' nature is characterized by
dangerous landscapes, forests and abundant water bodies. There are a
total of 409 lakes in Nurmes, the largest and best known of which is
Pielinen. Other lakes near the city center include Lautiainen,
Nurmesjärvi and Kuohattijärvi. The largest islands in Pielinen on
the Nurmes side are Kynsisaari, Kuusisaari and Retusaari.
Metsähallitus maintains three camping areas in Nurmes. The area of
hailstorms consists of a 5.9 km² protection forest and a 1.2 km²
recreational forest. In addition to the forest, Raesärk has ridges,
bogs, lakes and rivers. The Mujejärvi area consists of a 20 km²
hiking area with cliffs, ridges, gorges and lakes. In addition to
sheds, you can choose a desert hut or a rental cabin in the area.
Peurajärvi is well suited for families with children and fishermen.
There are many fishy lakes, ponds and rivers in the area, around
which there are easy routes.
Ancient finds show
that people have moved around Nurmes for at least four millennia.
People have been fishing on the shores of Pielinen, which were 3-4
meters above the current lake surface. Later, the area was left to
the Lapps, as a number of place names referring to them show:
Jurtti, Kurtsunpuro and Kujanki.
Nurmes was first mentioned
as a settlement in documents in 1556. Fifty “Russians,” orthodox
Karelians, were reported to live in Nurmes. The area belonged to the
Russian Empire with Käkisalmi County. After the area moved to Sweden
in the early 17th century, the Karelians moved to Russia and
Lutherans from Savo and Kainuu moved to Nurmes, and the settlement
began to spread rapidly.
In 1638, the Pielisjärvi Lutheran
Church was founded and its first church was built. However, the
mother church was moved to Lieksa and Nurmes Church remained the
chapel as the first priest Lauritsa Laurinpoika Hallitius. In
1656–1657, he led peasants in the Rupult War as Russians and
Orthodox Karelians tried to plunder Nurmi.
In 1652 Nurmes
became part of Kajaani, under Peter Brahe. During that time, the
keeper developed and traffic connections to Kajaani and Oulu were
strengthened. In the reign of taxpayers, or arresters, that began in
the 1680s, the trend reversed. The arrendants, most famously Simon
Affleck aka Simo Hurtta, tried to subjugate the peasants into land
slaves. The crowd moved south and the settlement was sparse. In
1697, the peasants rebelled and deported the tax tenants.
After the Great Wrath, half of the parishion was deserted. In the
18th century, the churchmen of Stenius were strongly influenced. Of
these, Jakob Stenius the Elder, Korpi-Jaakko, taught his
parishioners to cultivate bogs. Vegetation began to displace and the
need for arable land forced the houses to disperse to the
hinterlands. The arable and meadow area expanded sharply from 1775
and Nurmes began to develop into a cattle keeper.
In 1808,
perhaps the most famous Nurmeks resident, a tailor-born pupil of the
Iron Age, Olli Tiainen, rose to become the leader and guerrilla
master of the peasants of Lake Pielisjärvi as they began to defend
their home against the Russian attacker. As a resourceful and
skilled warrior, he gained the trust of both his subordinates and
Colonel Sandels, who defended Savo. The Russians were kept away
until the Finnish army withdrew to the Swedish side.
At the
Porvoo Parliament in 1809, the parish of Karelia was represented by
Henrik Ullgren (1762–1836) from Nurmes, a shop steward and an
exemplary farmer.
As an independent keeper
Nurmes was for a long time a chapel
of the Pielisjärvi parish, from which it became independent in 1810.
In 1868, Juuka was founded in the western parts of Pielisjärvi
parish, to which the southern villages of Nurmes parish were also
connected. Rautavaara was formed from the western parts of Nurmes in
1874 together with the connected areas from Nilsiä. In 1903, the
Yonkers area was connected from Nurmes to Kuhmoniemi, and in 1910
the Valtimo was formed from the northwestern parts of Nurmes, which
rejoined Nurmes at the beginning of 2020.
Establishing a
business
The town of Nurmes was founded in 1876 on an almost
uninhabited ridge a couple of kilometers from the church village.
The town plan was drawn up by Julius Basilier on the basis of
Ferdinand Öhman's plans. In the town plan, special attention was
paid to fire safety, which was pursued through regular and loose
construction as well as wide streets and tree plantings. Nurmes was
Finland's first township to operate as its own municipality,
separate from the rural municipality, as the previously established
Ikaalinen and Iisalmi were independent townships.
Due to the
small area of the town, its population was never large. In 1972,
ie before the rural area was incorporated into the Nurmes town hall,
the population was 2,652. The shop's main livelihoods were industry
and services. In addition, many of the residents of the municipality
were teachers or other civil servants, as a result of which the
township was called the "township of lords".
Before the
municipal union, the political structure of the town was very
right-wing. In the 1930s, the patriotic people's movement received
the most support in municipal elections. After the war, the most
popular parties were the Liberal People’s Party and the Coalition
Party. Instead, SKDL never got any delegates to the township council
before the countryside was annexed. Since the unification of the
countryside, the largest parties in Nurmes have been the Center and
the SDP.
As a city
At the beginning of 1973, the
countryside of Nurmes was incorporated into the Nurmes township.
Before the municipal union, the border between the township and the
countryside was Rajakatu in the west and the Mikonsalmi bridge in
the east. Nurmes became a city on January 1, 1974. The coat of arms
of the city became the coat of arms of the town.