VANTAA
Vantaa is a city and municipality in Finland. It borders
Helsinki, the Finnish capital, to the north and
northeast. Other neighbouring municipalities are Espoo
to the west, Nurmijärvi, Kerava and Tuusula to the north
and Sipoo to the east. Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and
Kauniainen make up the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The
most significant areas of the city are Tikkurila,
Myyrmäki, Martinlaakso, Hakunila, Koivukylä and Korso.
Its seat is in Tikkurila (or Dickursby in Swedish).
Vantaa with its population of 185,429 (as of 31 December
2004) is the fourth biggest city of Finland. The biggest
airport in Finland, the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is
located there. It also hosts a science centre, Heureka.
In addition there is the city museum next to the railway
station in Tikkurila. The museum is housed in the oldest
station building in Finland, designed by Carl Albert
Edelfelt and completed in 1861. There are exhibitions
with various themes on local history.
Vantaa encompasses 243 km², of which 1.90 km² is water.
Population density is 769.93/km².
The name Vantaa was taken into use in 1972 when the
municipality gained market town rights. The first record
of the area is as Helsinge in 1351 when king Magnus II
of Sweden granted salmon fishing rights on the river
Vantaa to the Estonian Padise monastery.
On October 11, 2002, the city was shocked by the
explosion of a bomb in the local Myyrmanni shopping
centre, killing 7, including the bomber, a 19 year old
Chemistry student from the Espoo-Vantaa Institute of
Technology. For more information on this issue see
Myyrmanni bombing.
Vantaa is known for being the birthplace of the famous
Finnish race driver Mika Häkkinen. Kimi Räikkönen has
also lived there, both in the suburb of Martinlaakso. |