Outokumpu (until the end of 1967, Kuusjärvi) is a Finnish city located in the province of North Karelia. The city is inhabited by 6,607 people. Outokumpu covers an area of 584.06 km², of which 138.23 km² is water. The population density is 14.82 inhabitants / km².
Outokumpu is located on the border of three
provinces; Of the city's neighboring municipalities, Liperi and
Polvijärvi, like Outokumpu, belong to the province of North Karelia,
Kaavi and Tuusniemi to North Savo and Heinävesi to South Savo.
The residential areas of Outokumpu's city center include
Jokipohja, Kaasila, Kalaton, Kyykeri, Mustikkakorpi, Mustola and
Partalanmäki.
Alavi (Alavi-Suvisranta-Herneaho), Harmaasalo, Kuusjärvi, Paloranta, Rikkaranta-Lähtevä-Kuminvaara, Sysmä-Sätös, Törisevä, Viuruniemi.
At the end of 2017, Outokumpu had 7,003 inhabitants, of whom 4,691 lived in urban areas, 2,224 in sparsely populated areas and the coordinates of the place of residence of 88 inhabitants were unknown. The degree of agglomeration is calculated for those residents whose coordinates of residence are known; Outokumpu's agglomeration rate is 67.8%. Outokumpu's agglomeration population belongs to only one agglomeration, Outokumpu's city center, which had 4,691 inhabitants at the end of 2017.
Outokumpu operated the
Outokumpu mine from 1913 to 1989. Today, the mining area is a
museum. The mining hump is visible as a hill that clearly stands out
from the surroundings, with a wide view from above. The old mining
tower also remains as a landmark in the city center. In 1971–1985,
the Vuonos mine also operated in the municipality.
The rural
area, originally known as Kuusjärvi, was transformed into
Outokumpu's city in 1968, which in 1977 became a city. Mining had a
strong impact on the municipality's identity. The spruce heel used
on the coat of arms affirmed on April 18, 1953, referred to the
original name of the municipality and the copper symbol for the
mine. The coat of arms was designed by herald Olof Eriksson. The
coat of arms was taken as an unaltered Outokumpu coat of arms. With
becoming a merchant, the mound of the mine gave the whole
municipality a name.
Esko-Pekka Tiitinen, a cultural
multi-actor from Outokumpu, has written a novel about Outokumpu's
history in the arms of Kivi (January, 2011), which follows the birth
and later stages of a mining village through the imaginary Vänskä
family. The history of the mine is also told in the book Mining
History by Arto Hakola from Outokumpu.
Outokumpu Church, made
of plastered brick and designed by Bertel Liljeqvist and Samuel
Salvesen, was completed in 1955. County architect Ferdinand Öhman
designed the parish's first Kuusjärvi church, which was built in
1878. Outokumpu Orthodox
Outokumpu is one of the most industrialized municipalities in Finland
when the total number of industrial jobs is compared to the
municipality's population. At the end of 2016, the number of industrial
jobs in Outokumpu was 934.
The relatively high proportion of
industrial jobs is explained by the transformation of the city's
economic structure, in which the closure of the Outokumpu mine in 1989
and the regional policy support measures taken before that have played a
major role. The mine has been replaced by the Outokumpu region
industrial village, which has been built as a significant concentration
of jobs since 1979, and which houses approximately 700 industrial jobs.
The industrial village is also home to the majority of the city's most
significant employers. The largest industrial employers in Outokumpu are
Turula Engineering Oy HK Foods Finland Oy, Piippo Oyj, Outokumpu Metalli
Oy, NS Group / Okun Hammaspyörä Oy, Okun Koneistuspalvelu Oy, Finelcomp
Oy and Elementis Minerals
According to Statistics Finland's 2014
statistics, there were 2,502 jobs in Outokumpu, of which 4.2% were in
primary production, 42% in processing and 52.9% in services.
Pre-school and primary education in Outokumpu is provided by the Kummu
School, which was opened in 2016 after a complete renovation, located in
the city centre. The city also has an Outokumpu Upper Secondary School
and the Outokumpu unit of Riveria (formerly the North Karelia Education
Association PKKY), which offers secondary vocational education.
The Outokumpu Library is located in the city centre, near the town
hall and the Kummu School. In addition, the Ketunlenkki mobile library
serving the residents of these municipalities serves the residents of
these municipalities. The Marita Cultural Centre serves as a cinema, for
example, and hosts performing arts events and lectures.
Upper
secondary education in the cultural sector is offered at the Riveria
Outokumpu unit. It is home to Finland's only upper secondary education
in the field of games, among other things.
Well-known cultural
figures from Outokumpu include writer and director Esko-Pekka Tiitinen,
dancer Jyrki Haapala, and musician Anna Puu. Other people from Outokumpu
include actor Jari Pehkonen, film director Taneli Mustonen, writer Leena
Lehtolainen, writer Terhi Rannela, news anchor and writer Matti Rönkä,
and sports journalist and producer Marko Terva-aho. Esko Kovero, who
plays Ismo Laitela in Salatui Elämi, is from Outokumpu, as is footballer
Timo Tahvanainen.
Outokumpu has been described in Leena
Lehtolainen's novels, in which the heroine, detective Maria Kallio,
originally comes from the fictional "Arpikylä mining town in Eastern
Finland".
Outokumpu's traditional cultural events include the Outopia Day and
Kumpu Soito, which are held in the summer, and the multi-arts Mining
Festival in early September. Outokumpu's major summer event is the
Okufest city festival, which was first held in 2015. In the summer of
2019, the headliner of Okufest was DJ Oku Luukkainen, who has studied
and lived in Outokumpu.
From 2006 to 2011, Outokumpu hosted the
spring cultural festival Kevätkumpu. The program included film, dance,
visual arts and seminars. The event originated from the presentation of
works by students of the vocational college's cultural field. It has
expanded into a national event for various art forms, which also has
international recognition. In the 1990s, Outokumpu also organized the
interdisciplinary Aika Outo Aika cultural festival and the Artpora art
exhibition in the summer at the Old Mine.
Outokumpu Upper
Secondary School and Kumpu School have organized music evenings in the
spring and autumn. There have been performances on two days; the
performers have been students and teachers from the schools. In February
2019, the first Participation Week was organized in Outokumpu: a free
city event open to everyone, where organizations, associations and the
city present their activities as well as hobby and leisure opportunities
in the community. In connection with the Participation Week, the first
Outokumpu Organization Gala was also organized, where distinguished
association and organization actors are awarded. The intention is that
the Participation Week and the Organization Gala will establish
themselves as annual events in the future.
The Paloranta stage is
Outokumpu's dance stage. It is planned to develop it into a center for
village activities.
Summer parties for the Vanhoillislestadion
members have been organized in Outokumpu since 1986.
In the 1980s, the meat soup called kaivossoppa and rye-lingonberry porridge were named the Outokumpu parish dishes.
The Old Mine of Outokumpu is a historical tourist and adventure
destination located in the city center, which includes a Mining Museum,
a Children's Mine, and a summer restaurant.
The Outokumpu
Wilderness and Nature Center is a diverse, wilderness-like nature
destination near the center of Outokumpu.
In 2010, CreaMentors Oy
prepared the Outokumpu Tourism Master Plan, according to which the Old
Mine will be North Karelia's leading, national, and international family
tourism destination by 2015, with 100,000 visitors annually. The plan is
generally considered utopian among the city's residents, and there is
strong resistance and criticism of tourism development projects. It has
been customary to report the number of visitors to the Old Mine as a
number that is often many times the number of tickets sold. The
operational operations of the Old Mine are handled by the city's
subsidiary Matkakumpu Oy, whose CEO is Ulla-Riitta Moilanen.
The
international tourist route, the Blue Road, runs through Outokumpu.
In 2004–2005, a hole was drilled in Outokumpu that reaches a depth of 2,516 meters. The hole has a diameter of 22 cm. The hole, which was drilled for research purposes, was drilled by the Russian state-owned company Nedra, which did the work as a state debt to Finland. It is used for geological and geophysical surveys. In 2018, a research hole drilled in Espoo surpassed the Outokumpu hole in depth. The hole will have reached a depth of 6,200 meters in 2024.
In November 2006, Outokumpu and Liperi announced that they were
planning to conduct a study on municipal merger. On 27 November 2006,
the Outokumpu City Council unanimously decided to prepare a merger
report and approved the municipal merger agreement on 18 June 2007. No
decision was made on a possible referendum. The timetable was also open;
the merger could have taken place between 2008 and 2011. The
municipalities already had a common director of social services and
health care. The municipalities have a total population of approximately
18,400. However, the Liperi municipal government rejected the merger
agreement in June 2007.
In autumn 2012, Outokumpu and Joensuu
decided to start a merger report, even though the municipalities do not
share a common land border. In January 2014, the Outokumpu City Council
decided not to approve the merger