Porvoo

Porvoo (IPA: [ˈporʋoː]) in Finnish or Borgå in Swedish, is a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately 50 kilometres east of Helsinki. The town received its name from a Swedish earth fortress near the river Porvoonjoki which flows through the town (Swedish Borgå, borg meaning castle and å river). Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century. Porvoo is the seat of the Swedish speaking Diocese of Borgå.

1 History
2 Sites of interest
3 Villages
- 3.1 Suomenkylä
4 Notable natives
5 Trivia
6 Twin towns
7 External links

[edit] History

Porvoo was founded 1346. When Sweden lost the city of Vyborg to Russia in 1721, the episcopal seat was moved to Porvoo. At this time, Porvoo was the second largest city in Finland. After the conquest of Finland by Russian armies in 1808 Sweden had to cede Finland to Russia in 1809 (the Treaty of Fredrikshamn). The Diet of Porvoo in 1809 was a landmark in the History of Finland. The Tsar Alexander I confirmed the new Finnish constitution (which was essentially the Swedish constitution from 1772), and made Finland an autonomous Grand Duchy.

[edit] Sites of interest

The town is famed for its many wooden buildings, and for the medieval Porvoo Cathedral which gave its name to the Porvoo Communion - an inter-church agreement between a number of Anglican and Lutheran denominations. The cathedral was damaged by fire on 29 May 2006, but the interior is largely intact. The wooden storage buildings on the riverside are a proposed UNESCO world heritage site.

Riverside storage buildings in Old Porvoo

[edit] Villages

[edit] Suomenkylä

Suomenkylä is a village north of the center of Porvoo and beside the Porvoo river. Suomenkylä has an old school founded by Linnankoski in 1898. The village of Suomenkylä has also two burial places from bronze age.

[edit] Notable natives

Albert Edelfelt, painter
Sami Hyypiä, soccer player
Ville Vallgren, sculptor
Grand Duke Vladimir of Russia, Romanov Dynast
Johan Ludvig Runeberg, National poet
Remu Aaltonen, musician
Hanna Ek, Miss Finland 2005

[edit] Trivia

Porvoo is the only Finnish place having two astronomical objects named after it. 1757 Porvoo is a small main belt asteroid and Porvoo is a 9.8 km crater located in the northern part of Argyre Planitia in the southern hemisphere of Mars.

[edit] Twin towns

[edit] External links

Porvoo - Official site
Porvoo travel guide from Wikitravel

	Municipalities of Eastern Uusimaa
	Askola \| Lapinjärvi \| Liljendal \| Loviisa \| Myrskylä \| Pernå \| Porvoo \| Pukkila \| Ruotsinpyhtää \| Sipoo
	Eastern Uusimaa \| Southern Finland \| Finland