Jyväskylä

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Jyväskylän kaupunki**
Image:Location of Jyväskylä in Finland.png
City	Jyväskylä (1837)
Administrative Province	Western Finland
Region	Central Finland
Historical Province	Häme
Area - Total - Land - Water	Ranked 383rd 136.9 km² 105.9 km² 31 km²
Population - Total (2004-12-31) - Density	Ranked 9th 83,582 610/km²
Time zone	Helsinki, Riga, Tallinn: UTC+2

Image:Jyvaskylan sokos.jpgJyväskylä (IPA: ['jyʋæsˌkylæ]) is a city located in central Finland, 147 km from Tampere and 270 km from Helsinki, near the lakes Päijänne and Keitele. It is the center of the Region of Jyväskylä. Due to having been the site of many education-related "firsts" in Finland, it is known as a city of schools and the Athens of Finland, and is also famous for its many buildings designed by Alvar Aalto and for hosting Neste Rally Finland, which is part of the World Rally Championship. It is home of the annual Jyväskylä Arts Festival.

At the end of 2004, Jyväskylä had a population of 83,582, while the Region of Jyväskylä had 163,420 inhabitants. The leaders of Jyväskylä have long proposed that Jyväskylän maalaiskunta (the rural municipality of Jyväskylä), which has it's town hall, graveyard and beautiful church Taulumäen kirkko all located conveniently in central Jyväskylä, should unite with the city, but Jyväskylä's maalaiskunta has resisted. The Jyväskylä region includes Jyväskylä, Jyväskylän maalaiskunta, Laukaa, Muurame and Toivakka.

As of 2006, the city mayor is Markku Andersson.

According to a wide imago survey (done every second year), Jyväskylä is one of the most successful cities in Finland.^{[citation needed]} In 2006 Jyväskylä was number two (after Tampere) as the most wanted city to live in Finland and the city was also believed to be the best growth milieu for children and the cosiest living environment.^{[citation needed]}

The unemployment rate in Jyväskylä is 14,8% (2005).

1 Education
2 History
3 Twin towns
- 3.1 Friendship cities
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Education

A number of firsts in Finnish education have taken place in Jyväskylä:

The first Finnish-speaking Lyceum (High School) (1858)
The first Finnish-speaking teacher training college (1863)
The first Finnish-speaking school for girls (1864)
Finland's first Summer University (1914)

Due to this, among other things, the city earned the nickname Athens of Finland.

The teacher training college later evolved into the College of Education (1934) and further into the multidisciplinary University of Jyväskylä (1966).

The University of Jyväskylä is one of the most popular universities in Finland. Almost 16,000 students are enrolled to study for a Bachelor's or Master's degree, and the university also offers PhD programs in most of its subjects. Historically, the university has excelled in the study of education, but in the last few decades it has also gained respect in the sciences. It is the only university in Finland offering university-level education in sports, training sports teachers and coaches. It's IT program is the largest (by attendance) in the country. Including school children, and the students in high schools, vocational schools, the university of applied sciences, known also for it's IT program, and the university, the number of students and pupils in the city reaches 40,000, boosting Jyväskylä's reputation as a "student city".

[edit] History

Jyväskylä was founded on 22 March, 1837 by Czar Nicholas I of Russia and it was essentially built from scratch. The original town was built between Lake Jyväsjärvi (which is connected to Lake Päijänne) and the Jyväskylä ridge (Harju), and consisted of most of the current grid-style city centre. In the early 20th Century, the town expanded several times. Most of today's Jyväskylä was built after the war, when refugees from Karelia and other parts of the country moved to the city and housing was badly needed. Today, Jyväskylä is growing by approx. 1,000 inhabitants/year. Interestingly, only about a third of the people living in Jyväskylä were born in Jyväskylä, which makes the city vibrant and culturally ever-changing.

[edit] Twin towns

Image:Flag of Denmark.svg Esbjerg, Denmark (1947)
Image:Flag of Sweden.svg Eskilstuna, Sweden (1947)
Image:Flag of Hungary.svg Debrecen, Hungary (1970)
Image:Flag of Iceland.svg Fjarðabyggð, Iceland (1958)
Image:Flag of Japan (bordered).svg Niiza, Japan (1997)
Image:Flag of Germany.svg Potsdam, Germany (1985)
Image:Flag of Poland (bordered).svg Poznań, Poland (1974)
Image:Flag of Norway.svg Stavanger, Norway (1947)
Image:Flag of Russia (bordered).svg Yaroslavl, Russia (1966) <ref name="TwinCities">Twin cities. International relations. Retrieved on 2006-08-02. </ref>

[edit] Friendship cities

Image:Flag of Nicaragua.svg Jalapa, Nicaragua (1988)
Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Mudanjiang, China (1988) <ref name="TwinCities" />

[edit] Trivia

The asteroid 1500 Jyväskylä was named after the town by its Finnish discoverer, Yrjö Väisälä.

[edit] References

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. This article has been tagged since December 2006.