Lempäälä Explained

Lempäälä
Official Name:	Finnish: Lempäälän kunta Swedish: Lempäälä kommun
Settlement Type:	Municipality
Coordinates:	61.3167°N 68°W
Subdivision Type:	Country
Subdivision Name:	Finland
Subdivision Type1:	Region
Subdivision Name1:	Pirkanmaa
Subdivision Type2:	Sub-region
Subdivision Name2:	Tampere sub-region
Subdivision Type3:	Metropolitan area
Subdivision Name3:	Tampere metropolitan area
Leader Title:	Municipality manager
Leader Name:	Heidi Rämö
Established Title:	Charter
Established Date:	1866
Timezone:	EET
Utc Offset:	+02:00
Timezone Dst:	EEST
Utc Offset Dst:	+03:00

Lempäälä (pronounced as /fi/) is a municipality in Finland, located in the Pirkanmaa region. It lies south of the regional capital, Tampere. The population of Lempäälä is approximately, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland.

The municipality covers an area of NaNLempäälä}} of which NaNLempäälä}} is water. The population density is NaNLempäälä.

The centre of Lempäälä lies on an isthmus between Lakes Vanajavesi and Pyhäjärvi, which are connected by the Kuokkalankoski Rapids and the Lempäälä Canal, which was built in the 1870s and is still in use.

The first written reference to the parish of Lempäälä dates from 1430. The oldest building in the town is a medieval church named after Saint Birgitta, built in 1504.^[1] The only surviving item from the Middle Ages in the church is a wooden crucifix carved from birch.

Finnish writer Yrjö Kokko lived in Lempäälä and is buried in the cemetery.

Ideapark, the second largest shopping centre in the Nordic countries, is located in Lempäälä along the Helsinki-Tampere motorway (E12).

Kuokkala

Kuokkala is a neighbourhood to the north of Lempäälä town which houses a ’museoraitti’ (museum trail). Several buildings now house collections of historical items, including a shop museum (also a shop and information office), hairdressers & barbers, cobblers, WW2 memorabilia, household equipment, blacksmiths, carpenters, a 19th-century Finnish dwelling, and a special exhibit relating to the ex-Finnish region of Sakkola.^[2]