Tornio

Tornio (Swedish: Torneå) is a Finnish city in the province of Lapland on the Swedish border. Tornio is the center of the Tornio River Valley and the most important border crossing point between Finland and Sweden.

Tornio has a population of 21,614 (30 June 2020) and an area of 1,348.83 km² (1 January 2020), of which 1,188.78 km² of land, 40.46 km² of inland waters and the remaining 119.59 km² of sea.

Tornio was the northernmost city in Finland until the form of Rovaniemi changed from a township to a city in 1960. Founded in 1621, Tornio is the oldest city in Lapland. The neighboring municipalities of Tornio are Kemi, Keminmaa, Tervola and Ylitornio. The city of Tornio has a lot of co-operation with its Swedish border neighbor, Haparanda.

 

Culture

Events

Several large Christian summer events have been organized in Tornio. The summer parties of the Vanhoillislestadioists have been organized in Tornio five times, in 1909, 1929, 1952, 1994 and 2016.

 

Attractions

Tornionlaakso Museum
Aineen Art Museum - An active meeting place for visual arts. Offering, among other things, collection exhibitions, temporary exhibitions, workshops and lectures.
Lapin Kulta Brewery - The brewery was founded in 1873 and was the oldest industrial plant in Northern Finland. The brewery's operations were discontinued in 2010.
Children's Traffic Park - The activities are mainly intended for children under 10 years of age and their parents.
Tornio Church - The church was consecrated in 1686.
Alatornion Church
Karungi Church
Tornio Orthodox Church
Shopping Centre on the Border - På Gränsen
Tornio Water Tower
Duudsonit Activity Park TornioHaparanda

 

Language

The dialect spoken in Tornio does not differ much from the dialect of the inhabitants of other municipalities on the western border. On the other hand, the people of Tornio Valley living on the Swedish side generally speak Meänkiel, or Tornio Valley Finnish, in addition to Swedish, which clearly differs from the Ostrobothnian dialects on the Finnish side, especially due to the considerable vocabulary influence of Swedish.

 

Sports

Tornio's sporting life has been lively over the past hundred years. The first sports competitions in the Tornio region were cross-country skiing competitions on the ice of the Tornio River in 1894.

At the beginning of the century, sports activities were launched within the framework of Tornio Pyry, which was founded in November 1905 in the aftermath of the general strike to continue the activities of the National Guard. In 1935, a separate club was established for ball sports, Tornion Palloveikot (ToPV), whose sports included football in the summer and ice hockey and futsal in the winter. In the first two decades of independence, the civil protection organization was a key organizer of sports activities. In particular, shooting and baseball in the summer, and skiing and biathlon in the winter, were the main sports of civil protection sports. The Kokkokangas terrain became the competition venues for shooting, skiing and biathlon. The market square served as a venue for football and baseball, and ice hockey was played on the ice of the Tornion River.

After World War II, more clubs were established in the city, including Tornion Tarmo, which was part of the TUL, and a new special club for ball sports, Tornion Pallo –47 (TP-47), which was founded by members of the Tornion VR. TP-47 later became known especially as a football club.

Since the 1970s, specialisation in a particular sport has also been typical in Tornio. Tornion Palloveikot is a particularly strong ice hockey club and Tornion Pallo –47 is a football club. Other specialist ball clubs include Tornion IHC in ice hockey, Tornion Lentis-88 in volleyball and Tornion Palloketut in rinkball. Tornion Palloveikot is also the city's number one floorball club. The number one club in skiing and athletics is Alatornion Pirkat.

Ball sports have been played at Pohjan Stadion since the 1950s, which has been used exclusively by track and field athletes and football players since the 1980s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the natural ice field in Näränperä served as the ice hockey venue, and since the 1990s, the artificial ice in Haparanda Gränsvallen has been the playing arena. Ice hockey, hockey and volleyball are practiced at the Putaa Sports Centre. The main venue for cross-country skiing is the Puuluoto Ski Centre.

Other sports venues include the Putaa Swimming Hall for swimmers, Laivakangas for trotting and shotgun shooting, Näränperä for archers and golfers, and Röyttä for sailors.

Famous athletes who grew up in Tornio over the decades have included, among others, track and field athlete and Olympic champion Ville Pörhölä, track and field athletes Erik Åström and Tauno Kontio, skier Jari Isometsä, professional footballer Teemu Tainio, slalom world champion Kalle Palander, and ice hockey players Ville Pokka and Jesse Puljujärvi.

 

History

Stone Age of Tornio Valley

The Tornio River estuary has been inhabited since the last ice age. By 1995, 16 ancient settlements had been found in the area. They are similar to those found in Vuollerim around 6000–5000 BC. Most of the current urban area, however, only rose from the sea during the last millennium due to post-glacial land uplift. Around the year 1000, the mouth of the Tornio River was located at Kukkolankoski, 14 kilometers north of the current city center.

 

Founding of the city

Before its founding, Tornio was known as a meeting point for trade routes, from which Nordic products, salmon and Lapland furs, left for world markets.

Tornio is named after the Tornio River, which flows along the western border of Finland. The origin of the name Tornio River has been disputed, but according to current understanding, it contains the old Häme word ‘tornio’ meaning a war spear. The explanation based on the Swedish word ‘torne’ (tower) is no longer considered plausible. Lake Tornio (Northern Sami: Duortnosjávri) is probably named after the river, as the oldest known documents mention the lake as Iretresk.

Tornio received its city rights by order of King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden on 12 May 1621 and was officially founded on Suensaari (Sudensaari). The name may have come from a landowner in the area, or from Swensarö, the island of the Swedes.

At the time of its founding, Tornio was the northernmost city in the world at the time.

The city was founded in recognition of Tornio’s position as a trading centre during the 16th century. Tornio grew to become the largest trading city in the north and was for a few years the wealthiest city in the Kingdom of Sweden. Despite its lively trade with Lapland and overseas regions, the city's population remained at a level of just over 500 people for hundreds of years.

In the 18th century, Tornio was visited by a few Central European explorers who came to explore the Arctic regions. The most significant expedition took place in 1736–1737, when Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis and his research team from the French Academy arrived to make measurements along the Tornio River. Among other things, triangulation measurements made from the top of Aavasaksa succeeded in proving that the Earth is a sphere flattened at the poles, a geoid.

 

Tornio during Russian rule

The trade of Lapland, on which Tornio depended, began to decline during the 19th century. Due to land subsidence, the river had become too narrow for water transport and the port of Tornio had to be moved downstream. The most significant blow to the wealthy city, however, came in the Finnish War of 1808, at the end of which Finland was annexed to the Russian Empire. The border was drawn along the deepest channel of the Muonion River, continuing to the Tornion River estuary. The line divided Lapland into two parts, which was fatal for trade. In contrast to the other border lines, the Russian emperor demanded that Suensaari, located west of the deepest channel of the Tornion River, and with it the center of Tornio, be annexed to Russia. The Swedes founded the village of Haparanda (now a city) west of the border to balance the loss of Tornio.

During Russian rule, Tornio was a small garrison town. Trade only picked up during the Crimean War and World War I. At that time, Tornio became an important border crossing. During World War I, Tornio and Haparanda were the only connection between Russia and their western allies.

 

Tornio during the Finnish Independence

After Finland gained independence in 1917, the first battles of the civil war took place in February 1918 in the area of ​​the Tornio railway station. As a result of the battles, the Russian soldiers in Tornio were captured.

Tornio lost its garrison. However, the city's population began to grow steadily.

During the Lapland War, towards the end of World War II, Finland considered the removal of German soldiers from the country as a condition of the peace treaty. The most significant battle of the Lapland War took place near the city center of Tornio, when Finnish soldiers who arrived by sea from Oulu landed in the city occupied by the Germans. The quickly successful recapture apparently saved the city from being burned.

For example, Tornio Church from 1686, one of the most significant old buildings in Tornio, was preserved.

Tornio reached its current area in 1973, when the neighboring municipalities of Alatornio and Karunki were merged into the city of Tornio.

After World War II, the city has been particularly employed by the brewery owned by Hartwall, known for its Lapin Kulta beer. In the 1960s, Outokumpu Oyj built a ferrochrome factory in the Röytä district, which produces the raw material for stainless steel, and in 1976 the company's stainless steel factory was started up there. In the decades following the war, large textile industry plants have also been significant employers in Tornio, for example the Kerilon nylon yarn factory and the Norlyn hosiery factory. The textile industry has now withered away to nothing. Tourism in the Tornio River Valley has grown in recent years.

Tornio switched to a mayor system in 1929. Before that, the city was led by mayors, who were elected on the basis of their law degree and expertise.

 

Geography

Location

Tornio is located on the northern coast of the Bay of Bothnia on the border between Finland and Sweden. The centre of Tornio is on Suensaari, which has expanded to the Swedish border due to land uplift and artificial land filling. The principle of border demarcation between Sweden and Finland, according to which the national border runs along the deepest bed of the Muonio and Tornion rivers, makes an exception for the centre of Tornio.

Tornio's neighbouring municipalities to the southeast are Kemi and Keminmaa, to the northeast, Tervola to the north, Ylitornio to the north and Haparanda in Sweden to the west. The city of Haparanda, located directly opposite Tornio, forms a twin city with Tornio, despite being a different country and time zone. The city of Kemi is located approximately 25 kilometres southeast of Tornio. Together with the surrounding municipalities, these two cities form the Kemi–Tornio subregion.

 

Area

The city centre is only part of the Tornio area, which reaches the Tornion river. The city is 83 kilometres (51 mi) long and 44 kilometres (27 mi) wide. Excluding the sea areas, the area covers 1,228.38 square kilometres (41.37 sq mi) of inland waters. This gives the city a low population density of 18.9 inhabitants per square kilometre. Most of the land area is built-up area.

The Tornio landscape is impressive, with the Tornio River. At over 500 kilometres (310 mi) long, it is the largest free-flowing river in Europe. Despite the variations, the flow is high for Finnish conditions: at Karungi, water flows at 367 cubic metres per second, with a maximum of 3,180 cubic metres per second. Tornio belongs to the boreal zone. The dominant tree species are spruce and pine, with birch being the most common deciduous tree. About half of the entire area is bog. The highest point in Tornio is Kaakamavaara, at 189 metres (610 ft). The coastal areas rise 6–8 millimeters above sea level annually due to land uplift. The coast is rugged and its outermost area is part of the Bothnian Bay National Park.

 

Climate

The climate in Tornio is temperate and also has features of a maritime climate.

The average annual temperature in Tornio is 0–2 °C. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of 16 °C, the coldest is February with −11 °C. The thermal growing season is 135–145 days long. The annual precipitation is 500–550 millimeters. Permanent snow cover usually occurs from mid-March to early May.

The center of Tornio is located about 80 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. Around the time of the summer solstice, the sun does not set below the horizon at all. In winter, the area is dark for a very long time, when the day is only three hours long.

 

Economy and infrastructure

Tornio is an industrial city. The most significant employer in Tornio is Outokumpu, whose stainless steel manufacturing Tornio steel mill employs over 2,000 people. Thanks to Outokumpu, a strong metal and engineering cluster has emerged in the Torp industrial area. Outokumpu has recently planned to expand its ferrochrome mill in Tornio, which would create 100 new jobs.

Until August 2010, a 130-year-old beer and soft drink factory operated on Suensaari in Tornio, producing Hartwall's (formerly Lapin Kulta) internationally renowned Lapin Kulta beer. The brewery employed 200–300 employees at its peak, and around 100 at its last stage. In 2016, the Lappari Experience Factory was established on the factory premises, where several different operators operate, such as Club Teatria and Tornion Brewery.

 

Transport

Tornio is the starting point of two highways. The only 16-kilometer-long highway 29 to Keminmaa offers fast access to Kemi. The highway is the northernmost motorway in the world and most of it is called the Bothnian Sea. Highway 21 follows the Swedish border to Kilpisjärvi. European Route 8 follows highways 21 and 29. European Route 4 starts in Tornio; the road is only a few hundred meters on the Finnish side and continues all the way through Sweden to Helsingborg in the south. 18,000 vehicles cross the Tornio-Haparanda border every day, making it the busiest border in the Nordic countries. In spring 2019, Tornio will get its first street named after a woman, when Irma Stormbom's street will be created.

Haparanda and Tornio share a bus station, the Haparanda–Tornio Travel Center. It is located on the Haparanda side, a hundred meters from the border.

Railways from Tornio lead in three different directions: the Oulu–Tornio line runs along the shore of the Baltic Sea to Oulu, the Kolari line follows the Tornionjoki River to Kolari, and the Tornio–Haaparanta line crosses the border to Haaparanna. In addition, the Röytä port line connects the Tornio railway yard with the Röytä port railway yard. The four-kilometer-long four-track line connecting the Tornio and Haaparanta railway stations enables traffic between the stations with both Swedish and Finnish rolling stock (Finland uses a wider gauge than Sweden). Passenger traffic in Tornio was suspended due to the poor condition and location of the Tornio-North stop in 2004. The Tornio-East stop was built in a safer location in 2008. Today, we know how to manufacture rolling stock that can quickly change its track gauge without changing bogies, when the stock is driven through a weather-protected gauge conversion hall from one gauge to another. Such technology has not yet been tried in rail traffic between Finland, Sweden and Norway.

The port of Tornio is located on Röytä Island, in the southern part of the city. In winter, an icebreaker enables free sea connections and the port can be used all year round. The port's traffic consists mainly of Outokumpu Oyj's stainless steel exports. There is no passenger traffic in the port. In 2007, 345 ships visited the port and the port's freight traffic was 1.6 million tonnes.

Kemi–Tornio Airport is located in Keminmaa, approximately 18 kilometres from Tornio. Finncomm Airlines offers direct flights to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. 95,887 passengers passed through the airport in 2008.

 

Safety and rescue

Tornio is home to four fire departments: the Tornio professional fire department of the Lapland Rescue Service, the Outokumpu steelworks fire department, the Tornio VPK, and the Karungi VPK. In addition, the Lapland Police Department has a police station in the municipality.