Pieksämäki is a Finnish city in the northwestern part of the province of Southern Savonia. The city has a population of 17,605 and an area of 1,836.23 km², of which 267.52 km² are water bodies. The population density is 11.22 inhabitants / km². Pieksämäki's neighboring municipalities are Hankasalmi, Joroinen, Juva, Kangasniemi, Leppävirta, Mikkeli, Rautalampi and Suonenjoki.
Notable buildings include: wooden church (A. Sorsa 1753), water tower
(Aarne Ervi 1956), cultural center Poleeni (Gullichsen-Kairamo-Vormala
1989, concrete structure of the year), town hall (Sipinen and Herzer,
1973) and old town hall (Walter and Ivar Thomé, 1918). Other
attractions: Savo track museum, Doll house, Iso-Pappila, Moisio manor,
Partaharju camp village, Ristikivi church, Internal Mission Society
museum, Jäppilä church, Jäppilä local museum, Virtasalmi church,
Virtasalmi local museum and tradition park and Virtasalmi Valkeamäki
rural museum.
The milieu of Keskuskatu, which leads through the
city from the railway bridge to the foot of the water tower, is
considered a good example of an architecturally unified street line. It
is included in the nationally significant built cultural environments
inventoried by the Finnish Museum Agency.
Memorials
Culture
center Poleen's fountain, sculptor Harry Kivijärvi, 1990
Veikko
Tyrväinen's memorial, sculptor Kauko Räsänen, 1988, Jäppilä
The pieks
are building, sculptor Veikko Haukkavaara, 1984, Asema-aukio, Asemakatu,
Pieksämäki
The arch of growth, sculptor Mauno Kivioja, 1980,
Pieksämäki town hall, Pertinkuja 1, Pieksämäki
Writer Sylvi
Kekkonen's memorial stone, 1980, Iso-Pappila yard, Sylvinkuja 5,
Pieksämäki
For Siiv, artist M. Poikolainen, 1978, Kuusitie 41,
Pieksämäki
Memorial to those who fell for their convictions, monument
erected in 1972, Vesitorninmäki, Tornipolku, Pieksämäki
State
parliament member Abel Häyrinen's monument, sculptor Veikko Leppänen,
1957, Culture Center Poleenin puisto, Pieksämäki
Hero statue,
sculptor Veikko Leppänen, 1956, Old Church church park, Pieksämäki
Memorial to those left in Karelia, sculptor Veikko Leppänen, 1954,
Sibelius Park, Häyrisentie, Pieksämäki
Commemorative plaques:
Author Aila Meriluoto's home, sculptor Riitta Huttunen, Huvilakatu,
Pieksämäki
Memorial stone for those who went to war, sculptor Riitta
Huttunen Park in front of Pieksämäki high school, Keskuskatu, Pieksämäki
Pieksämäki's first public school, sculptor Riitta Huttunen, Rantatie,
Pieksämäki
Pieksämäki's landscapes are characterized by high moraine ridges.
Permanent settlements were formed on these ridges already from the 15th
and 16th centuries. The latest studies show that Pieksämäki had a
continuous history of settlement for more than 5,000 years.
The
keeper of Pieksämäki was established during the years 1574–1575. Until
the 1920s, the center of Pieksämäki was the Tienristi region on the back
of Pieksämäki. A decisive change was the completion of the Savo railway
in 1889, although the Pieksämäki railway station was quite small in the
early days. Pieksämäki became a crossing station in 1914, when the
railway section between Savonlinna and Pieksämäki was opened to traffic.
In 1918, the railway section from Pieksämäki to Jyväskylä was completed.
As the railway station grew, a new residential area gradually formed in
its vicinity.
In the 1920s, plans were made to transform the
Pieksämäki station area into a densely populated community, and
architect Toivo Paatela prepared a site plan proposal for this in 1923.
However, the landowners of the area opposed the project. The decision to
establish the township was made in 1929, and the Pieksämä township was
separated from the Pieksämäki district in 1930. In 1937, the site plan
drawn up by professor Otto-Iivari Meurman was confirmed. However, the
marshy and watery soil hindered the construction of the town hall, which
is why the surface of the nearby Pieksänjärvi had to be lowered. The
lake lowering project was completed in 1953.
The residents of
Kauppala did not accept the name Pieksämä, but stubbornly used
Pieksämäki. The Railway Authority also did not agree to change the name
of the Pieksämäki station. Thus, the simultaneous use of the names
Pieksämä and Pieksämäki caused a lot of confusion. In 1948, the town's
name was changed back to Pieksämäki and it became a city in 1962.
Pieksämäki's town parish - since 1962 the city parish - became
independent from Pieksämäki's rural parish at the beginning of 1956.
In 1944, the Internal Mission Society of the Church of Finland moved
its activities from Sortavala to Pieksämäki. The society engaged in
publishing and printing, and maintained colleges. Finland's only
financial school for the hearing impaired, the State Railways Trainmen's
School and many other educational institutions were also established in
the area. The current Air Warfare School of the Defense Forces was
established in the Naarajärvi airport area at the beginning of the 1940s
under the name of the Air Force Viestivarikko.
The rural church's
wooden church is located in Pieksämäki city area. Its bell tower is the
oldest building in Pieksämäki. The brick church of the city parish
designed by Keijo Ström and Olavi Tuomisto works on the principle of a
multi-functional church. The third church in the city is the Pieksämäki
Orthodox Church designed by Toivo Paatela.
The city of Pieksämäki
and the municipality of Pieksänmaa merged and the new Pieksämäki city
was formed from the areas on January 1, 2007. Pieksämäa was formed at
the beginning of 2004 at the junction of Pieksämäki rural municipality,
Jäppilä and Virtasalmi.
Ankele, Haapakoski, Halkokumpu, Heikkolankangas, Hietakylä, Hietamäki, Hällinmäki, Jäppilä, Järvikylä, Kaitainen, Kantala, Karjala, Kontiomäki, Kukkola, Kuvansi, Kylmämäki, Kähkölä, Lamminmäki, Längelmäki, Maavesi, Mataramäki, Montola, Naarajärvi, Narila, Nenonpelto, Neuvola, Nikkarila, Niskamäki, Nokkala, Nykälä, Oittila, Paltamäki, Partharju, Pitkäsmäki, Pohjoismäki, Pihitty, Pyhäjärvi, Pöyhölä, Rummukka, Ruuhilampi, Salmenkylä, Sarkaniemi, Siikamäki-Peiposjärvi, Sormula, Suontientaipale, Surnuinmäki, Syvänsi, Tihusniemi, Tikkalanmäki, Toikkala, Tossavalansaari, Utriala, Valkeamäki, Vanaja, Vehmaskylä, Venetmäki, Venettekemäranta, Vilhula, Virtasalmi, Väisälä, Väyrylä.
According to the 2018 regional distribution, Pieksämäki has the
following parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland:
Pieksämäki parish
Jäppilä church district
Naarajärvi church
district
Virtasalmi church district
Former parishes
In the
following list, the parishes in the current area of the city of
Pieksämäki that were dissolved in historical time are mentioned.
Jäppilä parish (joined to Pieksämäki rural parish in 2004)
Pieksämäki
city parish (combined with Pieksämäki country parish as Pieksämäki
parish in 2007)
Pieksämäki Country Parish (merged with Pieksämäki
City Parish as Pieksämäki Parish in 2007)
Virtasalmi parish (joined
to Pieksämäki country parish in 2004)
Revivalist movements and
other denominations
Among the internal revival movements of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in Pieksämäki are the revivalism
and the five-day movement, to which the People's Mission is active in
the community. Pieksämäki also has a Christian student organization,
Pieksämäki OPKO, which operates within the Lutheran church.
Other
denominations are represented by Pieksämäki Pentecostal Church belonging
to the Pentecostal Revival, Pieksämäki Free Church belonging to the Free
Church of Finland and Pieksämäki Adventisteurakunta belonging to the
Adventist Church of Finland. Among the parishes of the Finnish Orthodox
Church, the Saimaa Orthodox parish operates in the Pieksämäki area.
The city is located at a railroad crossing. The Pieksämäki railway
station was commissioned in 1889 after the completion of the Savo
railway. Nowadays, there are direct train connections to Kajaani, Oulu
and Rovaniemi, in the south to Helsinki, in the east to Joensuu, and in
the west to Tampere and Turku. There are currently no night passenger
trains operating in Pieksämäki. From Monday to Friday, there is a night
express bus from Helsinki to Pieksämäki, from which Pieksämäki has an
early connection by train to Kuopio, Kajaani, Oulu and Rovaniemi.
There is a rail connection from Pieksämäki to Savonlinna via
Joroinen Huutokoski. Currently, there is no passenger traffic on the
Huutokoski-Savonlinna section and the rail connection is cut off in
Savonlinna at Laitaatsalmi, where the railway bridge was demolished in
2018. Buses operate between Pieksämäki and Savonlinna, which serve,
among other things, as connections for train passengers.
Highway
23 (Pori–Joensuu) and national road 72 (Mikkeli–Suonenjoki) pass through
the city. National road 9 (Turku-Tohmajärvi) runs northwest from the
city, cutting through the municipal area, to which there is a connection
from the central station via both national road 23 and national road 72.
The airport (EFPK) located in Naarajärvi has quite lively gliding
activities in the summer. The nearest airport is Varkaus Airport,
located about 40 kilometers away in Jorois. Kuopio and Jyväskylä
airports are approximately 105 kilometers away.
Livelihoods
Pieksämäki's main industries are the health and social sector and the
technology industry. Other major industries are trade, services,
construction, food industry and education. Health and social services
already cover 28 percent of the almost 7,000 jobs in the locality,
employing, for example, the Pieksämäki social and health service center.
The foundation for the industry's strong growth has been created by the
community's social and health education. The biggest employer in the
technology sector is VR's machine shop, around which a concentration of
around 50 companies in the metal industry has sprung up. The locality
also has business activities in the field of thermal technology, in the
manufacture of special steel structures, cash desks and hospital
furniture.
Trade and services, construction and education each
employ approx. 500–600 people. In the food industry, one of Finland's
largest manufacturers of gluten-free products and frozen bakery products
will be located in Pieksämäki.
About 1,100 companies operate in
Pieksämäki, and 70–80 new companies are founded every year.
The revival party was organized in Pieksämäki in 1974.
Food
culture
In the 1980s, pieksämäki's main dishes were made soup, otra
puro and blueberry soup, as well as egg cake, bun aces, serina cakes and
Aunt Hanna's cakes given by the coffee table.