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TEMPERE |
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TAMPERE , a leafy place of parks and lakes, is Finland's biggest
manufacturing centre and Scandinavia's largest inland city. Its rapid
growth began just over a century ago, when Tsar Alexander I abolished
taxes on local trade, encouraging the Scotsman James Finlayson to open a
textile factory, drawing labour from rural areas where traditional
crafts were in decline. Metalwork and shoe factories soon followed,
their owners paternally supplying culture to the workforce by promoting
a vigorous local arts scene. Free outdoor rock and jazz concerts, lavish
theatrical productions and one of the best modern art collections in
Finland maintain such traditions to this day.
The City
Almost everything of consequence is within the central section, a thin
strip of land bordered on two sides by lakes Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi.
The main streets run off either side of Hämeenkatu, which leads directly
from the train station across Hämeensilta. Left off Hämeenkatu, up
slender Hämeenpuisto, the Tampere Workers' Theatre and Lenin Museum (Mon-Fri
9am-6pm, Sat & Sun 11am-4pm; ¬2.50) remembers the time when, after the
abortive 1905 revolution in Russia, Lenin lived in Finland and attended
the Tampere conferences, held in what is now the museum. Northwest of
here there's more labour history, where some thirty homes have been
preserved as the Workers' Museum of Amuri at Makasiininkatu 12 (mid-May
to mid-Sept Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; ¬3.40), a simple but affecting place
which records the family life of working people over a hundred-year
period. In each home there's a description of the inhabitants and their
jobs, and authentic articles from relevant periods - from tables to
family photos and newspapers. Around the corner at Puutarhakatu 34, the
Art Museum of Tampere (Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; ¬3.40-6.80) holds powerful if
staid temporary exhibitions. If you're looking for Finnish art you might
be better off visiting the Hiekka Art Gallery , a few minutes' walk away
at Pirkankatu 6 (Wed & Thurs 3-6pm, Sun noon-3pm; ¬3.40), which has
sketches by Gallén-Kallela and Helene Schjerfbeck. Better still is the
tremendous Sara Hildén Art Museum (daily 11am-6pm; ¬3.50 combined ticket
with Särkänniemi), built on the shores of Näsijärvi (bus #16 from the
bus station or the central square), a quirky collection of Finnish and
foreign modern works. Occupying the same waterside strip as the Hildén
collection is Särkänniemi , Finland's most popular theme park with
dolphinarium, aquarium, planetarium, a smattering of white knuckle
rollercoasters and an observation tower - at 168m the highest free
standing building in Scandinavia - which affords fantastic views (daily
11am-midnight; park entry fee ¬3.50, all-in ticket costs ¬22, though
rollercoasters and aquarium are closed from Sept-April. Each other
attraction then costs an extra ¬3.50-5) |
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