25 Facts About Turku

Turku is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper and the former Turku and Pori Province .

Turku is the oldest city in Finland, and served as the most important city of the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden .

However, Turku lost its status as capital only after three years in 1812, when Tsar Alexander I of Russia decided to move the capital to Helsinki.

Turku continued to be the most populous city in Finland until the end of the 1840s, and it remains the regional capital and an important business and cultural center and port.

Also, Turku has been officially declared the Food Capital of Finland, because it holds a number of Finland's oldest, highest quality restaurants alongside a historically famous fish market, held twice a year.

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The Finnish names of organizations and institutes of Turku often begin with this word, as in Turun yliopisto for the University of Turku.

Turku has a long history as Finland's largest city and occasionally as the administrative center of the country, but for the last two hundred years has been surpassed by Helsinki.

Turku was the meeting place for the States of Finland in 1676.

The government offices that remained in Turku were finally moved to the new capital after the Great Fire of Turku, which destroyed a large portion of the city in 1827.

Turku remained the largest city in Finland for another twenty years.

The eastern side, where the Turku Cathedral is located, is popularly referred to as tal pual jokke, while the western side is referred to as tois pual jokke .

Cultural venues in Turku include several theatres, cinemas, and art galleries, and a city philharmonic orchestra.

Turku was the European Capital of Culture in 2011, and the city council has approved numerous projects to boost the city's image in preparation for that status.

Turku ostensibly has a long-standing mutual feud with the city of Tampere, the capital of Pirkanmaa and the third largest city of Finland, and they tend to compete for the title of being the "second grand city of Finland" after Helsinki.

HC TPS of Turku is one of the most successful teams in Finnish ice hockey history.

Paavo Nurmi Marathon is an annual sporting event in Turku, named after the world-famous runner Paavo Nurmi, who was born and raised in the city.

Turku Titans is a lacrosse club based in Turku with a relevantly successful history with three silver medals and one gold medal in the national lacrosse league in Finland.

The City of Turku is planning to combine these two in a new greater station complex in the near future.

Turku Airport is located 8 kilometres to the north of the city centre, partly in the neighbouring municipality of Rusko.

Turku has a longer educational history than any other Finnish city – the first school in the city, the Cathedral School, was founded along with Turku Cathedral in the late 13th century.

Finnish University of Turku is the second largest university in Finland, as measured by student enrollment, and one of the oldest as well, having been founded in 1920.

Turku is one of only two cities in Finland to have an established international school .

Abo Underrattelser, a Swedish language newspaper published in Turku, is the oldest newspaper in Finland, having been published since 1824.

In March 2022, Turku suspended the agreement with Saint Petersburg, Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Turku Art Museum is a classical example of Romantic nationalism in architecture.

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