Хәмеенлинна қаласы: Тарихы мен географиясы

City in Tavastia Proper, Finland

Hämeenlinna (; Tavastehus; ; Tavastum or Croneburgum) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Kanta Häme. It is located in the southern interior of the country and on the shores of Lake Vanajavesi. The population of Hämeenlinna is approximately , while the sub region has a population of approximately It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the 14th most populous urban area in the country. Hämeenlinna is the oldest inland city in Finland and was one of the most important Finnish cities until the 19th century. Hämeenlinna was located in the heart of the historic province of Tavastia. Since then, Hämeenlinna has remained an important regional centre. The medieval Häme Castle (also known as Tavastia Castle) is located in the town. Hämeenlinna is known as the birthplace of Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius. Today, it belongs to the region of Kanta Häme, and before 2010 it was the residence city for the Governor of the province of Southern Finland. Nearby cities include the capital Helsinki , Tampere and Lahti , the regional centre of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät Häme). The neighbouring municipalities of Hämeenlinna are Akaa, Asikkala, Hattula, Hausjärvi, Hollola, Janakkala, Loppi, Padasjoki, Pälkäne, Tammela, Urjala and Valkeakoski. The former municipalities, Hauho, Kalvola, Lammi, Renko and Tuulos, were consolidated with Hämeenlinna on 1 January 2009; with these municipal associations, the Hattula municipality is almost completely surrounded by Hämeenlinna. The coat of arms of Hämeenlinna is based on the 17th century town seal, which in turn refers to the Häme Castle built by the Lake Vanajavesi in the Middle Ages, near which the city was founded. The current coat of arms was designed by Gustaf von Numers on the basis of the old coat of arms, and was confirmed on September 21, 1956.

Vanaja is the name of a settlement next to Vanajavesi that had been in existence since the Viking Age. The castle was built in the late 13th century to secure Swedish power in central Finland. A village was established near Häme Castle to provide services and goods to its inhabitants. The village was granted city rights on January 19, 1639, but Hämeenlinna, which still after that looked more like a rural village, developed very slowly, which was a typical problem for inland cities in Finland compared to the most prosperous coastal cities. The city is known for its schools and academies where many famous Finns have studied. Schools, government and the military have characterised the life of Hämeenlinna throughout history. Finland's first railway line, the Finnish Main Railway (, Stambanan), opened between Hämeenlinna and Helsinki on March 17, 1862. The current Hämeenlinna railway station (Rautatieasema in Finnish) was built in 1921. During the Finnish Civil War in 1918, Hämeenlinna was initially in the area controlled by the Reds, but the Whites captured the city with the help of the Germans in the Battle of Hämeenlinna. After the war, the Hämeenlinna prison camp established for red prisoners operated in the Poltinaho barracks area, and it was known as one of the most notorious high discipline camps in the history of the Civil War, where female prisoners were also kept. By mid September, over 2,000 Red prisoners died in the prison camp, mainly for communicable diseases such as smallpox, scarlet fever, typhus and Spanish flu.

There are a total of 339 lakes in whole or in part in the area of the city of Hämeenlinna. The largest of them are Lake Vanajavesi, Lake Kukkia and Lake Kuohijärvi. The main features of the Hämeenlinna landscape are the Häme Lake Plateau, the Vanajavesi Valley and the Kanta Häme Grove Center. In many places, the landscapes are marked by the prosperous Tavastian agricultural culture. The city has several nature reserves, the largest of which are located in the popular recreation areas of Aulanko and Ahvenisto on the outskirts of the city. In total, there are 31 Natura 2000 areas in the city of Hämeenlinna. In addition, Hämeenlinna has Finland's first national urban park, established in 2001.

The center of Hämeenlinna is located on the Saarinen Hill on the shores of Lake Vanajavesi, and is bordered on the west by Highway 3 (E12), while Highway 10 bypasses the city to the south and east. The street network in the center is based on a grid pattern drawn up by C. L. Engel in 1832 with the Market Square as its center. On the edge of the market square are the town hall, Hämeenlinna Church and the Häme County Government House. The city center is divided into four districts, which are Linnanniemi, Koilliskulma, Hämeensaari and Saaristenmäki. Raatihuoneenkatu, which has been partially transformed into a pedestrian street, is the most significant shopping street in the city center; for example, at the western end of the street, the Goodman Shopping Center was completed in October 2014. There are plenty of buildings of different styles in the city center, and in proportion to the city's population, it is quite large and densely built. The most significant expansion direction in the city center in the 2010s has been the Keinusaari district on the other side of Lake Vanajavesi, where, for example, the city's railway station is located. Supplementary construction has also been carried out in the city center on an ongoing basis. The center of Hämeenlinna has been ridiculed as the "Finland's largest lit cemetery".

The city of Hämeenlinna has inhabitants, making it the most populous municipality in Finland. The Hämeenlinna region has a population of In Hämeenlinna, 6.0% of the population has a foreign background, which is below the national average. Hämeenlinna is a monolingual Finnish speaking municipality. The majority of the population – people or – speak Finnish as their first language. There are Swedish speakers in Hämeenlinna, or of the population. of the population of Hämeenlinna have a mother tongue other than Finnish or Swedish.|group=note The number of residents who were born abroad was 4,536, or 6.6% of the population. The number of persons with foreign citizenship living in Hämeenlinna was 3,293.

The economic structure of Hämeenlinna is close to the national average. In 2015, there were 28,270 jobs in the city. Of these, 75% were in the service sector, 3% in primary production (agriculture, forestry and fisheries) and 21% in processing. The share of the unemployed was 13,6%.

Hämeenlinna is home to HAMK Häme University of Applied Sciences' headquarters. Founded in 1873, Hämeenlinna Lyceum has many cultural influencers. The school is one of the most famous educational institutions in Finland, as many well known Finns have graduated from the institution; examples include master composer Jean Sibelius and president J. K. Paasikivi. However, the city council decided to cancel the high school project in the spring of 2018, and the high schools will continue to be separate.

In the 1980s, the following dishes were named Hämeenlinna's traditional cuisine: as a daily meal, smoked ham and sourdough bread; as a festive meal, the herring wrapped in rye dough or kalaleipä, i. e. "fish bread", buttermilk and beer, and the riistansylttääjän lintupaisti, which is pheasant stuffed with almonds, potato and apple slices.