Kirkkonummi (; sv, Kyrkslätt, , Sweden ) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

of inhabitants () in southern

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. The literal meaning of the words "''Kirkkonummi''" and "''Kyrkslätt''" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

is "church heath".

Geography

The municipality is located just outside the

Helsinki Metropolitan Area Greater Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin seutu, Suur-Helsinki, Swedish: ''Helsingforsregionen'', ''Storhelsingfors'') is the metropolitan area surrounding Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It includes the smaller Capital Region (''Pääkaupunkiseutu ...

, bordering the city of

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärv ...

in the east. Other neighbouring municipalities are

Vihti Vihti (; sv, Vichtis) is a small municipality located in the Uusimaa region of province of Southern Finland, approximately northwest of the capital city Helsinki. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water ...

and

Siuntio Siuntio (; sv, Sjundeå) is a municipality of Finland located in the Uusimaa region in the province of Southern Finland. Its neighboring municipalities are Ingå to the west, Kirkkonummi, to the east, Lohja to the north-west, and Vihti to the no ...

. The distance from the municipal centre to central

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

is some . Kirkkonummi also has excellent

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

and

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

connections to other parts of the Greater Helsinki area, and many of its inhabitants commute daily to Helsinki. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

is . In recent years, Kirkkonummi has faced the highest population growth rate in the country, at over 3% per annum. Veikkola Kirkkonummi

Major population centres in Kirkkonummi include the municipal centre,

Masala Masala, Massala or MASALA may refer to: Spice * Masala (spice), any of the many spice mixes used in South Asian cuisine ** Masala chai, a flavoured tea beverage ** Masala incense, Indian incense using a spice mix ** Masala dosa, an Indian dish Pl ...

Veikkola Veikkola () is a village in Kirkkonummi municipality in Uusimaa, Finland. It is located about north of the municipal center along the Helsinki–Turku Highway ( E18), near the border of Vihti. The regional road 110 also passes through the vill ...

Kantvik Kantvik is a village in Kirkkonummi municipality in Uusimaa, Finland. It is located about south of the municipal center towards Upinniemi. Nearby services include a primary school and a Sale grocery store. There is a bus connection from Kantvik ...

and the

Upinniemi Upinniemi ( sv, Obbnäs) is a village in the municipality of Kirkkonummi in southern Finland. It is located approximately 12 km south of the municipal centre. Upinniemi is dominated by the naval base (formerly the Porkkala Naval Base), whi ...

naval garrison area. In addition to these, there are dozens of smaller villages. Geographically, Kirkkonummi has two famous

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...

s, namely

Porkkala Porkkalanniemi ( sv, Porkala udd) is a peninsula in the Gulf of Finland, located at Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt) in Southern Finland. The peninsula had great strategic value, as coastal artillery based there would be able to shoot more than half ...

and Upinniemi, the latter one of which houses a major Finnish naval base. Porkkala is also on one of the main bird migration routes in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

region. Additionally, Kirkkonummi has a large central plains area, through which a railway goes from Helsinki to

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) 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 (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

as well as extensive lake areas, much of which is relatively untouched wilderness.

Climate

Kirkkonummi has a four-season

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Dfb'') with long, cold, snowy winters, and warm summers; spring and fall are somewhat cool and brief seasons. Similar to that of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

. The monthly daily average temperatures range from -3.9 °C (25.0 °F) in January to 20 °C (68 °F) in July. Precipitation is well-spread throughout the year, though late spring to early summer is the driest season while late fall to winter tends to be the wettest. Its location in the very southern tip of Finland gives it a milder climate than that of northern Finland, being influenced by the

North Atlantic Current The North Atlantic Current (NAC), also known as North Atlantic Drift and North Atlantic Sea Movement, is a powerful warm western boundary current within the Atlantic Ocean that extends the Gulf Stream northeastward. The NAC originates from where ...

and the

. Record temperatures range from -31.4 °C (-24.5 °F) in February, up to 34.8 °C (94.6 °F) in July. The plant life

hardiness zones A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

are between 6a and 7a, representing an annual extreme minimum temperature between .

History

Kirkkonummi has been populated from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

to the present day as evidenced by the first Stone Age rock paintings found in Finland that are located by lake Vitträsk in the central lake region of Kirkkonummi. Incidentally, these paintings were found by the famous Finnish composer

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

himself. The southern half of the municipality was leased to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

between 1945 and 1956 for use as a naval base as part of the peace settlement that ended the hostilities between the Soviet Union and Finland during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Signs of this time include concrete bunkers, other fortifications and the remains of an airbase.

Politics

Results of the

2011 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%. The ...

in Kirkkonummi: *

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...

30.7% *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

16.8% *

True Finns The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

16.3% *

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finlan ...

14.3% *

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the pol ...

10.1% * Centre Party 4.4% * Left Alliance 3.6% *

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

2.3%

Attractions

Places of interest located in Kirkkonummi include the medieval stone church in the municipal centre, the wooden church in the village of

Haapajärvi Haapajärvi is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neig ...

, as well as the

Hvitträsk Hvitträsk is a mansion complex in Kirkkonummi, Finland, about west of Helsinki. It was designed as a studio home for the members of the Finnish architecture firm Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen, later becoming the private residence of Eliel Saar ...

manor designed by Finnish architects

Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish-American architect known for his work with art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Eero Saarinen. Lif ...

Herman Gesellius Herman Ernst Henrik Gesellius (16 January 1874 – 24 March 1916) was a Finnish architect. Biography Gesellius graduated from the Polytechnical Institute in 1897. In 1896 he founded the architecture firm Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen with Armas ...

and

Armas Lindgren Armas Eliel Lindgren (28 November 1874 – 3 October 1929) was Finnish architect, professor and painter. Biography Early life and career Armas Lindgren was born in Hämeenlinna on 28 November 1874. He studied architecture in the Polytechnical I ...

Notable people

The municipality was home to

Finnish American Finnish Americans ( fi, amerikansuomalaiset, ) comprise Americans with ancestral roots from Finland or Finnish people who immigrated to and reside in the United States. The Finnish-American population numbers a little bit more than 650,000. Man ...

architect

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...

, son of

. He has designed famous landmarks such as the

Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources consider ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

and

Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and F ...

in Dulles,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

. *

Jani Hakanpää Jani Hakanpää (born 31 March 1992) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hakanpää was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the fourth round (104th overall) of the 2010 NHL En ...

(born 1992), professional ice hockey player

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kirkkonummi is twinned with: *

Sundbyberg Sundbyberg Municipality (''Sundbybergs kommun'' or ''Sundbybergs stad'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, just north of the capital Stockholm. Sundbyberg is wholly within the Stockholm urban area and has a 100% urban p ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

* Paldiski,

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

References

External links

Municipality of Kirkkonummi
– official website {{Authority control Greater Helsinki Populated coastal places in Finland Populated places established in the 1330s