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Imatra

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Template:Infobox Finnish municipality Imatra is a town and municipality in eastern Finland. Imatra is dominated by Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River and the border against Russia.

On the other side of the border, 7 kilometres (4 mi) away from the centre of Imatra, lies the Russian town of Svetogorsk. St Petersburg is situated 210 km (130 mi) to the southeast, Finland's capital Helsinki is 230 km (140 mi) away and Lappeenranta, the nearest Finnish town, is 37 km (23 mi) away. Imatra belongs to the administrative province of Southern Finland and the region of South Karelia.

The main employers are pulp and paper manufacturer Stora Enso Oyj, the Town of Imatra, engineering steel manufacturer Ovako Bar Oy Ab, and the Finnish Border Guard. As of October 2003, total number of employees was 12,423.[1] As of December 2004, 1,868 employees were employed by the Town of Imatra.

As of 24 April 2017, the mayor of Imatra is Rami Hasu.[2]

History

An Art Nouveau or Jugend style castle, currently known as Imatran Valtionhotelli, was built near the rapids in 1903 as a hotel for tourists from the Russian Imperial capital Saint Petersburg.

During the Continuation War, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim met with Adolf Hitler in secrecy near the town for the former's 75th birthday.

Imatra was founded in 1948 on the territory of three municipalities – Jääski, Ruokolahti and Joutseno. Finland ceded 11% of its territory to the Soviet Union after the Winter War. Jääski lost 85% of its territory and it was decided that a new municipality, Imatra, should be established on the remaining 15% of Jääski and some areas of Ruokolahti and Joutseno. This is why the Imatra coat of arms has three flashes – in honour of those previous municipalities that granted areas to it. It gained its municipal charter in 1971.

Sport

PaSa Bandy is a bandy club in Imatra.

Imatra is the birthplace of National Hockey League players Jussi Markkanen and Petteri Nokelainen.

In motorsport history, Imatra is best known for its road races (former TT-race) from 1963 to 1986. From 1962 to 1982 it was the home of the Finnish motorcycle Grand Prix. Racing on Imatra road circuit ended after fatal accident during the 1986 European Championship event.[3] Racing resumed in 2016 as an International Road Racing Championship event.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Finland

Twin towns — Sister cities

Imatra is twinned with:[4]

  • Passport entry stamp from the border checkpoint
    Passport entry stamp from the border checkpoint
  • Passport exit stamp from the border checkpoint
    Passport exit stamp from the border checkpoint
Imatrankoski rapids, September 20th 2012

See also

References

  1. ^ "Imatra". Imatra. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Rami Hasu on Imatran uusi kaupunginjohtaja". Yle Uutiset. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Imatra (Finland): love and death in a cold GP climate" (in Italian). Retrieved 2017-07-16.
  4. ^ "Ystävyyskaupungit" (in Finnish). Imatran kaupunki. Archived from the original on 2015-01-23. Retrieved 2015-01-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Media related to Imatra at Wikimedia Commons

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