Kotka
Template:About Template:Infobox settlement Kotka (Template:IPA; Template:Literal translation) is a town in Finland, located on the southeastern coast of the country at the mouth of the Kymi River. The population of Kotka is approximately {{#expr:Template:Data Finland municipality/population countround −3}}, while the sub-region has a population of approximately {{#expr: Template:Data Finland municipality/population count + Template:Data Finland municipality/population count + Template:Data Finland municipality/population count + Template:Data Finland municipality/population count + Template:Data Finland municipality/population countround −3}}. It is the Template:Ordinal most populous municipality in Finland, and the 16th most populous urban area in the country.
Kotka is situated in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city situated on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a culturally diverse city with a variety of schools. It was previously a part of the former Kymi parish. Kymi, Haapasaari island, and Karhula, which was once a separate market town, were later incorporated into Kotka. Kotka's neighboring municipalities are Hamina, Kouvola, and Pyhtää.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kotka is situated in the Kotka-Hamina subdivision and, along with Kouvola, is one of the main centres of the Kymenlaakso region.
The city centre of Kotka is located on an island in the sea called Kotkansaari ("Island of Kotka").<ref>Kotkansaari - Kotkan kaupunki (in Finnish)</ref><ref>Kotkan Kauppatie (in Finnish)</ref> The main road in Kotka is the Finnish national road 7 (E18), which runs west through Porvoo to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, and extends east to St. Petersburg, Russia. The Port of Kotka is a major Finnish seaport serving both Finnish and Russian foreign trade.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The municipality is officially unilingually Finnish, with Template:Percentage being native Finnish speakers, Template:Percentage Swedish, and Template:Percentage speaking some other language.
Heraldry
The description of the older coat of arms read that "the upper field of the split shield is blue, the lower field silver, and in the center of the shield a natural stone with a golden eagle, and in the lower field the anchor and caduceus diagonally crossed, both blue," while the current coat of arms is described as follows: "In a blue field, the wings of a golden natural eagle are raised, standing with a crossed anchor and caduceus, both of which are silver."<ref>Kotkan vaakunaselitys Template:Webarchive (in Finnish)</ref><ref>Бойко Дм. А. Геральдика Великого Княжества Финляндского. – Запорожье, 2013. Template:Webarchive (in Russian)</ref> The first coat of arms of the city of Kotka was confirmed in 1881. However, the Kotka City Council had to renew the old coat of arms in 1954 because it did not meet heraldic requirements.<ref name="vaakuna">Template:Cite web</ref> The new coat of arms was designed by Olof Eriksson in 1957,<ref name="vaakuna"/> Eriksson kept the new coat of arms as the main emblem of Kotka referring to the name of the city. From the images of the current coat of arms, the anchor reflects the importance of Kotka as a port town and caduceus in trade, industry and maritime traffic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Clear left
History
On 16 April 1878, the Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issued a declaration establishing a city on the southern part islands from the old Kymi parish, so in 1879 the islands of Kotkansaari and Hovinsaari were separated from Kymi and the city of Kotka was established.<ref>Kotkan synty ja kasvu Template:Webarchive (in Finnish)</ref><ref>City of Kotka – Kotka Wooden Boat Fair</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Second All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held in Kotka, on 21–23 July (3–5 August) 1907.
Historically, Swedish was the official language in the city until 1902. From 1902 until 1906, the city was officially bilingual. Kotka has a Swedish speaking minority (see: Swedish-speaking population of Finland), which in the 1890s accounted for 16% of the city population and 3% in the 1950s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Today around 1% of the city's population are Swedish speakers. There is one school in Kotka where Swedish is the language of instruction, Kotka Svenska Samskola, which was founded in 1885.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Kotka region was one of the first heavily industrialized regions of Finland. Paper and pulp mills remain important employers. In the last decades several factories have undergone restructuring which has led to an increasing unemployment. Since the 1980s the population of Kotka has been slowly decreasing, mostly due to domestic migration to Helsinki region.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demographics
Population
The city of Kotka has Template:Data Finland municipality/population count inhabitants, making it the Template:Ordinal most populous municipality in Finland. The Kotka-Hamina region has a population of {{#expr: Template:Data Finland municipality/population count + Template:Data Finland municipality/population count + Template:Data Finland municipality/population count + Template:Data Finland municipality/population count + Template:Data Finland municipality/population count}}.
Languages
Template:Pie chart Kotka is a monolingual Finnish-speaking municipality. Template:As of, the majority of the population, Template:Data Finland municipality/native language Finnish persons (Template:Percentage), spoke Finnish as their first language. In addition, the number of Swedish speakers was Template:Data Finland municipality/native language Swedish persons (Template:Percentage) of the population. Foreign languages were spoken by Template:Percentage of the population.<ref name="statistics-finland-population-2024-final"/> As English and Swedish are compulsory school subjects, functional bilingualism or trilingualism acquired through language studies is not uncommon.
At least 30 different languages are spoken in Kotka. The most common foreign languages are Russian (5.2%), Ukrainian (1.0%), Estonian (0.7%), Arabic (0.4%) and English (0.4%).<ref name="statistics-finland-population-2024-final"/>
Immigration
| Population by country of birth (2024)<ref name="statistics-finland-population-2024-final"/> | ||
| Nationality | Population | % |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Flag | 44,932 | 89.5 |
| Template:Flag | 1,940 | 3.9 |
| Template:Flag | 418 | 0.8 |
| Template:Flag | 328 | 0.7 |
| Template:Flag | 279 | 0.6 |
| Template:Flag | 131 | 0.3 |
| Template:Flag | 128 | 0.3 |
| Template:Flag | 126 | 0.3 |
| Template:Flag | 96 | 0.2 |
| Template:Flag | 80 | 0.2 |
| Template:Flag | 77 | 0.2 |
| Other | 1,675 | 3.3 |
Template:As of, there were 5,743 persons with a foreign background living in Kotka, or 11% of the population.Template:Refn The number of residents who were born abroad was 5,278, or 11% of the population. The number of persons with foreign citizenship living in Kotka was 3,323.<ref name="statistics-finland-population-2024-final"/> Most foreign-born citizens came from the former Soviet Union, Russia, Estonia, Ukraine, and Iraq.
The relative share of immigrants in Kotka's population is above the national average. Moreover, the city's new residents are increasingly of foreign origin. This will increase the proportion of foreign residents in the coming years.
Religion
In 2023, the Evangelical Lutheran Church was the largest religious group with 59.9% of the population of Kotka. Other religious groups accounted for 3.0% of the population. 37.2% of the population had no religious affiliation.<ref>Key figures on population by region, 1990-2023 Statistics Finland</ref>
Economy
Kotka's three largest employers at the beginning of 2018 were the City of Kotka, the Social and Health Services in Kymenlaakso (Kymsote), and Steveco.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The largest livelihoods in 2004 were social services (31.7%) and local industry (21.9%).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2006, the city's total expenditure was just over EUR 370 million and municipal tax revenue amounted to EUR 141.3 million with an income tax rate of 18.75%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the end of 2015, the unemployment rate in Kotka was 22.2%, which is one of the highest and largest cities in Finland.<ref>http://www.kymensanomat.fi/Online/2016/01/27/Kotkan%20työttömyys%20hyppäsi%20ennätyslukemiin/2016320220319/4 (in Finnish)</ref> In 2005, the unemployment rate in Kotka was 14.4% and in 2006 12.9%. In 2010, the relative number of unemployed in the city started to rise and at the end of 2012 the rate was 17.1%.<ref>http://www.stat.fi/tup/kunnat/kuntatiedot/285.html (in Finnish)</ref>
Architecture and culture
Structures
Maritime Centre Vellamo is home to the Maritime Museum of Finland, the Museum of Kymenlaakso, the Coast Guard Museum, Information Centre Vellamo and the Kotka Cultural Centre. In addition to this, the building holds classrooms, seminar rooms, a 200-seat auditorium, Restaurant Laakonki with 100 seats, and Museum Shop Plootu.
The Kymenlaakso Museum operates at the Kantasatama Harbour in Kotka, at Maritime Centre Vellamo.<ref>Merikeskus Vellamo - Official Site</ref> The museum building, which has aroused much attention, was designed by the architect Ilmari Lahdelma.<ref>Museo - Kotkan kaupunki (in Finnish)</ref> The area of operation of the Kymenlaakso museum, which is maintained by the City of Kotka, covers seven municipalities. The museum information services and the work of the regional archaeologist cover the entire region of Kymenlaakso. In building research, the museum serves as a public authority, with duties such as the issuing of opinions in building protection matters. The collections of Kymenlaakso museum have been compiled since the 1920s. Alongside collections of museum items, the museum has an extensive archive of photographs. The collections are located at Metsola in Kotka.
Langinkoski Imperial Fishing Lodge (Langinkosken keisarillinen kalastusmaja) is a museum and fishing lodge in the valley of River Kymijoki. Kymijoki is one of the biggest rivers in Finland with a drainage basin with 11% of the area of Finland. Emperor Alexander III of Russia first visited Langinkoski in 1880 as Crown Prince. During his second visit to Langinkoski, he stated that he wanted a small fishing lodge near rapids.<ref>Langinkoski Imperial Fishing Lodge museum - Visit Kotka-Hamina]</ref><ref>Langinkoski Imperial Fishing Lodge - Discovering Finland]</ref> Construction of the house began in the summer of 1888 and was inaugurated the following year. The museum is visited annually by about 14,000 visitors a year.<ref>Kansallismuseon ensimmäinen kesä Langinkoskella päättyi – keisarillisella kalastusmajalla vieraili yli 11 000 ihmistä - YLE (in Finnish)</ref>
Maretarium Aquarium opened in 2002, is located on Kotka Island, on the shore of the Gulf of Sapokka. It focuses on the presentation of Finnish fish species and water bodies. There are about 60 native and established fish species from Finland. The Maretarium was created in collaboration between the City of Kotka, the University of Helsinki and the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute. In addition to aquariums, there are also facilities for researchers and the nature school. There is also the Maritime Theater, Meri Café Kristina and a souvenir shop.
The Church of St Nicholas is located in Isopuisto Park in Kotka city centre. Based on designs by Jakov Perrin, the neoclassical church was constructed between 1799–1801, and it is the oldest building in Kotka today. Facade consists of pillars for three entries, the bell tower and a cross dome.
Parks
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The numerous well-maintained parks and green areas make the centre of Kotka can be visited with a walk of about five kilometers, which can reach these park sites: Sapokka Watergarden, Katariina Seaside Park, Sibelius Park, Isopuisto ("Big Park"), Sculpture Promenade, Palotornivuori Park, Redutti-Kotka herb garden, Fuksinpuisto Park and Toivo Pekkanen Park.
- Sapokka Watergarden, awarded with numerous international prizes, is a real green oasis in the middle of Kotka. In addition to the variety of plants, the main elements of this park are water, stone and special lighting.<ref>Sapokka Watergarden - Discovering Finland</ref>
- Katariina Seaside Park is an extensive outdoor recreation area of more than 20 hectares, which grew up on the site of the oil loading port.<ref>Katariina Seaside Park - Discovering Finland</ref>
- Sculpture Promenade is Finland's largest outdoor gallery. The new works have been acquired for the sculpture promenade almost every year.<ref>Kotka Sculpture Promenade - Visit Kotka-Hamina</ref>
Food
In the 1980s, Baltic herring, salmon soup, head cheese, turnip potatoes called "lanttujyrkkö", and groat pie ("ryynipiirakka") were named Kotka's traditional parish dishes.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Deep-fried doughnuts called "Template:Ill" are also considered traditional pastries in Kotka.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sports
The local football team is KTP. Founded in 1927, KTP has long, and successful football history. KTP won the Finnish football championship in 1951 and 1952, and Finnish Cup 4 times, in years 1958, 1961, 1967, and 1980. Currently the club plays in the highest Finnish league Veikkausliiga.
Kotka has long been known as one of Finland's basketball cities;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> KTP-Basket plays in Korisliiga.<ref>KTP-Basket - Official Site</ref>
There is also rugby club Griffins RFC.<ref>Griffins RFC - Official Site</ref>
Local government
| Party | Seats | |
|---|---|---|
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | Social Democratic Party | 19 |
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | National Coalition Party | 13 |
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | Left Alliance | 7 |
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | Finns Party | 5 |
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | Green League | 3 |
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | Centre Party | 2 |
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | Christian Democrats | 1 |
| style="background-color: Template:Party color" | | Swedish People's Party | 1 |
Notable people
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Twin towns — Sister cities
Kotka is twinned with:<ref name="Kotka twinnings">Template:Cite web</ref>
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See also
Notes
References
External links
- City of Kotka – Official website
- Kotka Tourism – Official website of Kotka City Tourist Information
Template:Geographic location Template:Navbox Template:50 most populous Finnish municipalities Template:1952 Summer Olympic venues Template:Olympic venues football Template:Authority control
- Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments
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- Kotka
- Cities and towns in Finland
- Populated coastal places in Finland
- Grand Duchy of Finland
- Port cities and towns in Finland
- Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea
- Populated places established in 1879
- 1879 establishments in Finland
- Municipalities of Kymenlaakso