Tampere

The establishment of the first settlement in the Tampere area dates back to around 600. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the settlement became an important commercial center, which lost its significance later in the Middle Ages. In the 18th century Tampere was a village with 200 inhabitants, which in 1779 received city rights.

In fact, the flourishing of the city can be counted since 1775, when the king of Sweden Gustav III brought the first banks that established their headquarters around the Tammerkoski channel. At that time it was a rather small city, consisting of only a few square kilometers of land around Tammerkoski.

Tampere developed mainly as a trading city and industrial center in the 19th century. The industrial nature of the city in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries gave it the nickname "Manchester of the North". The first industrial plants and parks quickly appeared here. In 1819, at the behest of Tsar Alexander I, under whose rule Finland was at that time, Tampere was expanded and by the mid-nineteenth century it became the most industrialized city in Finland.

Tampere was the center of many important political events in Finland in the early 20th century. On November 1, 1905, during the general strike, the famous Red Declaration in Keskustori was announced. In 1918, just after Finland gained independence, Tampere also played an important role, being one of the most important strategic scenes during the civil war in Finland (January 28 - May 15, 1918). Imperial forces seized the city after the Battle of Tampere, recupturing about 6,000 communist prisoners on 6 April 1918.

After World War II, Tampere was enlarged by incorporating adjacent areas into the urban area. Tampere is known for the textile and metal industry, but in the 1990s the technology and information industry and telecommunications developed dynamically. Currently, most of the old factory buildings and banks have new functions: they include offices, technology and IT companies, advertising agencies as well as cafes and pubs. The Hermia technology center in Hervan is the seat of many companies in these industries. It is worth noting that a company with the same name was created in the Nokia district - today it is one of the most recognizable Finnish companies in Europe and around the world. Currently, Tampere is known worldwide for its film and music festivals.

Since 1969 every year in March the Tampere International Short Film Festival takes place. The event attracts several thousand cinema lovers to the city.

The conference on the latest technologies and media is organized every September is the second major cultural event.

The most popular music festivals are:

Tampere Biennale Music Festival - held every two years since 1986, the festival has already had over 15 editions and is dedicated to the music of contemporary Finland as well as foreign performers. https://visittampere.fi/article/tampere-biennale

Tampere Jazz Happening – music festival dedicated to jazz music, held every year in April. http://tamperemusicfestivals.fi/jazz/en/

Festival of Scottish Traditional and Modern Music Pispala Schottische – the event that has been taking place in Tampere since 1970 attracts many tourists every year. During the festival you can see traditional dances in folk costumes and listen to interesting music. http://sottiisi.nuorisoseurat.fi/

In the whole city you can see over 50 monuments. The most popular of them include:

Tampere Cathedral - designed by Lars Sonck and built in 1902–1907, famous for its frescoes painted by the famous symbolist Hugo Simberg

Orthodox church of st. Alexander Nevsky - it was erected in the years 1892-1898, a one-nave, five-dome temple with a bell tower located above the vestibule, which represents the Byzantine-Russian style, imitating in particular the sacred architecture of 17th-century Russia

Public library Metso (Eng. capercaillie) from 1986. Seen from above, the shape resembles a bird. One of the largest public libraries in Finland, built by architects Raili and Reima Pietilä.

Pispala - an old workers' district of wooden houses on the northern slope of Pispalanharju, the highest esker in Finland.

Many buildings from the heyday of the city have survived to this day. In Tampere, you can visit luxury residences such as the House of Sumelius (1901), the House of Palander (1901), House of Commerce (1899) and House of Selin (1886). The most important monuments in Tampere, such as the Tampereen Teatteri (1913), the town hall (1890), the fountain on the Keskustori market (1882) come from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, but in the city you can also see the preserved XVIII in the city market - Keskustori. Municipal parks are also very popular, which, in addition to rest from the hustle and bustle of the city, also offer many attractions for both large and small.

Tampere is also a city full of interesting museums. The most popular and worth visiting are primarily:

Sara Hildén Museum of Contemporary Art from 1893

Museum of Lenin in the Workers' House - one of the last museums dedicated to the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, who met Joseph Stalin for the first time in Tampere during a secret meeting of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party in 1905

Finnish Ice Hockey Museum with the Finnish Ice Hockey Hall of Fame

Muumimuseo – an art museum dedicated to the work of Tove Jansson, author of books on Muminks. The museum is located in the basement of the "Metso" city library in Tampere.

Tampere is an important Finnish university center. There are four universities here:

- University of Tampere (UTA)

- Tampere University of Technology (TUT)

- Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) 

- Pirkanmaa University of Applied Sciences (PIRAMK).

On of the faculties of the University of Tampere, the International School of Social Science, enjoys a good reputation and is extremely popular due to its research fields in international politics and the world economy.

From 1 to 4 October 2019, the delegation from Łódź visited our partner city of Tampere to take part in the Stream Startup Festival and made a study visit to the Tampere Startup Hub. The visit was attended by young entrepreneurs, winners of last year's edition of the "Youth in Łódź - Got an Idea for Startup", representatives of universities and representatives of the City Hall.

Tampere Startup Hub is a leading unit coordinated by the City of Tampere in Finland dedicated to supporting, promoting and coordinating activities focused on dynamic development and internationalization of young enterprises. The study visit was a continuation of the cooperation undertaken in 2018 between the City of Łódź and the City of Tampere, among others in the implementation of the Mayor of Łódź competition "Youth in Łódź - Got an idea for a startup". As part of the agreement, the City of Tampere (Tampere Startup Hub) was the sponsor of prizes for Łódź startups.

The study visit was aimed at exchanging experience in supporting innovative business ventures, discussing the current cooperation between Łódź and Tampere, as well as setting out further directions of cooperation. An important element of the visit was participation in the event entitled "Stream Startup Festival" during which the Łódź startup project UchFit was promoted. At the same time, numerous talks were held to promote the technological potential of companies from Lodz and the region, and invitations to cooperate with the City were organized to organize a nationwide Competition entitled "Youth in Łódź - Got an idea for a startup".

From 17 to 19 October 2018, representatives of Business Tampere visited Łódź and took part in the gala of the competition "Youth in Łódź - Got an Idea for Startup", during which the city of Tampere awarded 2 awards (participation in the Stream Startup Festival in 2019) to selected participants of the competition. A Tampere representative could also participate and learn about the concept of the TEDx 'ANOTHER perspective! and the III Łódź Regional Job and Personal Development Fair, which took place in the same space as the gala of the "Youth in Łódź - I Have an Idea for Startup" competition.

Between 9 and 13 October 2018 representatives of the City of Łódź Office took part in Tampere Smart City Week. During the visit, they had the opportunity to participate, among others in Mindtrek - the International Technology Conference with about 70 sessions, divided into 5 main blocks (open world, Smart City Event Tampere, eHealth, EdTech, Immersive Technologies and EdTech), as well as in the Investor & Business Forum, whose main goal was to talk about factors determining the attractiveness of cities as a place for business and investing. The trip was also aimed at summarizing the current cooperation between Łódź and Tampere, as well as discussing the possibilities and directions of future cooperation in the second half of 2018 and in 2019.

Economic mission to Tampere

The mission, led by the Mayor of the City, aimed to launch talks with potential Finnish investors in Helsinki and Nokia, as well as with the new-chosen Mayor of Tampere, Ms Anna-Kaisa Ikonen regarding the acceleration of cooperation between Łódź and the twin city of Tampere.

A two-day conference entitled "Culture and Tourism - A Common Way". This is the fifth meeting of experts on current trends in cultural tourism in our city. The Institute of Geography and Tourism of the University of Lodz made his debut as a partner of the conference.
- We explained that tourism and culture should coexist during the previous four editions. However, this cooperation must be something more than commercialization - said during the inauguration of the conference prof. Bogdan Włodarczyk, deputy director of the Institute of Geography and Tourism of the University of Lodz.
The aim of the conference is to promote the natural and cultural heritage of the country on the example of selected cultural trails. The programme of the event included European trails including The Romanesque, Amber, Via Regia routes as well as regional routes: the Oscypek Cheese Trail in Lesser Poland, the Technical Monuments Trail, the Podlasie Stork Trail, the Lubuski Wine and Honey Trail, or the Łódź Fairytale Trail.
- Łódź as the capital of a region so diverse and full of cultural attractions is a great place to discuss tourism - persuaded the Deputy Mayor of Łódź Krzysztof Piątkowski. - I am glad that this year's meeting will focus on discussing selected cultural routes, because we have something to boast about in this matter. You will have the opportunity to listen to, among others on the Łódź Fairytale Trail, promoting the extraordinary achievements of Łódź animation.
Another Łódź accent of the conference was the presentation of employees of the University of Lodz regarding the visionary project - Katarzyna Kobro and Władysław Strzemiński Modernist Art Trail, walking in the footsteps of the Łódź avant-garde.
There were experts from abroad, including guests from Łódź's twin cities: Tampere and Tel Aviv, who shared their experience in the field of European cultural routes and implementation of marketing campaigns.
The conference was accompanied by workshops related to the promotion of cities and regions, building network cooperation based on regional tourist products and introducing the principles of internet marketing.
The event was organized by the Regional Tourist Organization of the Łódź Voivodeship together with the Institute of Urban Geography and Tourism of the University of Łódź, and the partner of this event was the City of Łódź Office.

Representatives of the cities of Tampere and Chemnitz came to Łódź to take part in the international conference 'Searching for a new identity by post-industrial cities'. The project was implemented within the framework of the 'Europe for Citizens 2007-2013' programme. The main issues of the conference included the revitalization of post-industrial architecture and the role of art and the textile industry in the life of the cities participating in the project. During the three-day visit, guests from partner cities had the opportunity to learn about unique examples of revitalization in Łódź, such as EC1 or the Central Museum of Textiles.

Young people from Tampere took part in the 1^st  Festival of Youth of Partner Cities in Łódź. The project is implemented by the Independent Students' Association of the Łódź Region and the City of Łódź Office.  Youth from Tel Aviv, Murcia, Barreiro, Rustavi, Tampere, Lyon and Minsk took part in the festival. The main purpose of that event was co-creating alternative techniques and methods of operation in non-formal education, learning about the cultures of partner cities, uniting young people, eliminating divisions.

During the festival Łódź’s group encouraged our friends from partner cities to promote Łódź as the best candidate for the title of the European Capital of Culture 2016 and also encouraged to closer cooperation between our societies. The festival included, among others, a meeting with the mayor of the City of Łódź and the Culture Fair – gallery of photography, presentation of national dances, competition for the public. The aim of that fair was to present the cultures of our partner cities, and show our national culture through traditional Polish dishes, national dances, the history of the city of Łódź and good international entertainment, uniting youth from partner cities. The guests took part in a tour of the most interesting places in Łódź.

Within the project organized by Tampere entitled European Tour, a special bus equipped with computer equipment was made availablein Schiller Passage. The project, covering all of Tampere's partner cities, aimed to provide residents with free access to all kinds of information. On the bus, allowing free access to the Internet, films promoting Łódź as a candidate for the title of European Capital of Culture and films promoting festivals taking place in our city were presented. The event enjoyed considerable interest from the inhabitants of Łódź.

The 230th anniversary of establishing Tampere was celebrated in a special way. Representatives of partner cities, including those from Łódź, invited to the celebrations had the opportunity to learn about Tampere's achievements, in particular in the field of urban space development and revitalization of post-industrial facilities, which are part of the implementation of the city's promotional and marketing strategy. Guests visited, among others, the Central Vapriikki Museum, participated in the opening of the cultural path "Women in History of Tampere" and exhibitions of partner cities. Halina Rosiak, deputy Mayor of the City of Lodz, met with, among others, the Mayor of Tampere, Mr. Tino P. Nieminen and the President of the Tampere City Council, Irene Roivainen The talks concerned the possibilities of intensifying cooperation between our cities.

The International Relations Director at the City of Tampere Office paid a visit to Łódź to discuss future cooperation.

The Deputy Mayor of Tampere visited Łódź on the occasion of celebrating Łódź Birthday.

A group of sixteen teachers from the city of Tampere came to learn about our education system. They visited the following educational units in Łódź:

-Secondary School Complex No. 8

-Primary School No. 206

-Kindergarten No. 97.

The Łódź Art Center exhibited the "Finns on Tour" exhibition, which is part of the Backlight 08 International Photography Festival in Tampere (Finland). The photo exhibition was one of the effects of Polish-Finnish artistic friendship and an element of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of cooperation between Łódź and Tampere. Łódź exhibition began at exactly the same time when the Tampere photo festival was launched in Tampere under the slogan "Attack of tickles". The inauguration of the artistic event was preceded by a satellite connection with the Finnish city, during which Deputy Mayor Jarosław Wojcieszek and Vice Mayor of Tampere Ritta Ollila welcomed guests in both countries. They talked about cooperation between Łódź and Tampere - primarily about the possibilities of implementing joint projects in the field of culture and art as well as revitalization experiences. Tampere representatives assured that they would support Łódź in the efforts for the title of European Capital of Culture in 2016. At the Łódź exhibition, four Finnish artists presented their vision of reality: Tatu Hiltunen, Jorma Mylly, Pekka Niittyvirta, and Okko Oinonen. At the same time, Polish photographers in Tampere - Oiko Petersen and Rafał Milach - presented their own worldview.

In 1998, representatives from both cities took part in the celebration (575th Birthday of Łódź, 220th anniversary of granting Tampere city rights). In addition, partner meetings took place during which further cooperation between the cities was discussed.

The partnership cooperation agreement was signed on 28 October 1996 by the then city Mayors Marek Czekalski (from Łódź) and Vesu Kaupinnen (from Tampere). Cooperation between cities concerns the following fields:

- Economy

- Public transport

- Environment protection

- Healthcare and  social assistance

- Science, higher education and achool education

- Culture and art

- Sport and recreation.