Loppi (; Swedish also ) 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 ...

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 ...

. It is located in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Southern Finland Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History ...

and is part of the Tavastia Proper

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

, located about 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) south of the city of

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of ...

. Loppi was founded in 1632. The municipality has a population of () and 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 . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Neighbour municipalities are

Hyvinkää Hyvinkää (; sv, Hyvinge, ) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region, approximately north of the capital Helsinki. The city was chartered in 1960. The population of Hyvinkää is (). Its neighboring muni ...

, Hämeenlinna, Janakkala, Karkkila, Riihimäki, Tammela and

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 ...

. The most significant main road connection to get from Loppi to Riihimäki is the national road 54, which runs between Tammela and

Hollola Hollola () is a municipality of Finland, located in the western part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality is unilingually Finnish and has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density Pop ...

, and which is connected to the Highway 3 ( E12) between

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 ...

and

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population ...

. Another significant road connection in the direction of Helsinki is the regional road 132 passing through the municipality of

Nurmijärvi Nurmijärvi () is the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...

. The subject of the municipal coat of arms, where the

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

symbol has sunk into a wave-cut plate, refers to the lifting of

limonite Limonite () is an iron ore consisting of a mixture of hydrated iron(III) oxide-hydroxides in varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO(OH)·H2O, although this is not entirely accurate as the ratio of oxide to hydroxide ...

from the lake in the early period. According to local

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...

, Kaakkomäki of Loppi was inhabited by a giant

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

in ancient times. When Loppi’s old church, Saint Bridget Church, was built in the 17th century, the devil tried to disrupt the construction and became enraged when the

church bell A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and to ...

s rang. The devil tried to destroy the church bell tower and threw it with a large rock. However, the rock flew over the church to Tiirinkallio on the shore of Lake Loppijärvi, from where the rock was combed into the lake. The stone in the lake brought a disaster:

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

fell ill and animals died. So the villagers crammed the rock up the cliff and the luck of the cattle was restored. Loppi is especially known for its

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

cultivation, and the potato is classified as the municipality's title plant. Potato

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...

and lingonberry broth cooked from

barley flour Barley flour is a flour prepared from dried and ground barley. Barley flour is used to prepare barley bread and other breads, such as flat bread and yeast breads. There are two general types of barley flour: coarse and fine. Barley groats are ...

, as well as a

sweetened potato casserole Sweetened potato casserole ( Finnish ''imelletty perunalaatikko'') is a traditional Finnish dish from Päijät-Häme, eaten elsewhere in Finland at Christmastime. It is prepared by letting puréed potatoes, mixed with wheat flour, stand at a temp ...

and

meat sauce This is a list of meat-based sauces, consisting of sauces prepared using various types of meats as a primary ingredient. Meat-based sauces are commonly served with or over rice, pasta, or other starches. Thick meat-based sauces are sometimes used ...

, were named the traditional food of the Loppi parish in the 1980s.

History

Loppi is part of a historic province of Tavastia. Originally it was part of the chapel parish of Janakkala. The Loppi Chapel Parish, formed in the 16th century, included only seven of the current Loppi villages: Läyliäinen, Sajaniemi, Joentaka, Loppi, Hunsala, Teväntö and

Pilpala Pilpala is a village in the Loppi municipality in Tavastia Proper, Finland. It is located in the southern part of the municipality, near the border of Karkkila town. It is less than 15 kilometers from the village to the church village of Loppi, Kar ...

. Other villages belonged directly to Janakkala. The independent parish of Loppi became in 1632. This also included other villages that later belonged to Loppi and also

Kytäjä Kytäjä () is a village located in Hyvinkää, Finland. Kytäjä is along the connecting road 1361 about 15 kilometers west of the center of Hyvinkää and about 17 kilometers east of Loppi's Läyliäinen. Until 1917, the village belonged to the ...

, (now part of

), which had been part of Janakkala until 1579, then became part of

, with the exception of Vatsia's house, which remained in connection with Loppi. The administrator of Loppi was much wider in its territory than the administrator of the church. When the Riihimäki township was founded in 1926, the Vatsia house in the village of Kytäjä was moved from Loppi to Riihimäki borough. Between 1907 and 1954, there was a

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struct ...

connection between Riihimäki and Loppi, built by the

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through per ...

H. G. Paloheimo. After the

Second World War 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Loppi was inhabited by just under 1,100 Karelian migrants. Most of them, nearly 900, were from

Kamennogorsk Kamennogorsk (russian: Каменного́рск; known before 1948 by the Finnish name of Antrea (russian: А́нтреа; sv, S:t Andree)), is a town in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus on the le ...

parish.

Geography

The forested highland of Tammela, which extends to the western part of Loppi, and the Salpausselkä, which cross the municipality's area, form a

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

between the Kokemäki River watershed to the north and the smaller river basins flowing to the south. The waterways descending to the north originate from Lake Kaartjärvi and Lake Loppi and join in Janakkala in Lake Kernaala. Lake Hirvijärvi flows into the Vantaa River watershed in the southeast on the border of Loppi, Riihimäki and Hyvinkää and Lake Keihäsjärvi in the south in Läyliäinen. Lake Keritty and Lake Punelia in the southwestern part of Loppi belong to the Svartån River watershed, which flows through Lake Lohja. Lake Pääjärvi in the northwest corner of Loppi belongs to the Loimijoki River catchment area in the Kokemäki River watershed.

Villages

There are three big villages in the municipality: Loppi (Kirkonkylä), Launonen and Läyliäinen. Most of the inhabitants of the municipality live in these villages, as they are located along the significant main road connections of the municipality. Other (smaller) villages are Hevosoja, Hirvijärvi, Hunsala, Joentaka, Kormu, Metsäkylä, Ourajoki,

, Räyskälä, Sajaniemi, Salo, Teväntö, Topeno and

Vojakkala Vojakkala (officially Lower Vojakkala, sv, Nedre Vojakkala) is a smaller locality with about 62 inhabitants in Haparanda Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden, known for a long-standing feud between neighbors. Local feud The community has ga ...

Services

Loppi's primary

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pr ...

services are provided by the Regional Health Center of Riihimäki. in the emergency cases, the health care is available at night from the emergency room of in

. There are seven

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

s and one

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in the municipality of Loppi. Etelä-Hämeen Tanssiopisto is a dance

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

founded by Maiju Milad, whose main hall is located in the center of Loppi church village. Loppi Library was founded in 1852 and is the third oldest library in Tavastia. The library got its current building in 1988.

Attractions

The church of

Saint Birgitta Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303 – 23 July 1373) born as Birgitta Birgersdotter, also Birgitta of Vadstena, or Saint Birgitta ( sv, heliga Birgitta), was a mystic and a saint, and she was also the founder of the Bridgettines nuns and monks aft ...

is situated in Loppi. It is commonly called the ''Santa Pirjo'', Pirjo being the Finnish version of the name Birgitta. The church is one of the oldest wooden churches in Finland, being about 300 years old.

Marshal Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as comm ...

's hunting lodge called the " Marshal's Cabin" (''Marskin Maja'' in Finnish) was moved from

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance fo ...

to Loppi in 1942 during the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

. It is located on the side of lake Punelia and nowadays functions as a restaurant and museum. Vojakkalan lava

The village of

has a popular

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and cities in ...

in summertime, ''Vojakkalan lava'', which is suitable for both stage dances and other events.Vojakkalan lava
- Tanssiin.fi (in Finnish) The

Räyskälä Airfield Räyskälä Airfield is an airfield in Räyskälä, Loppi, Finland, about west of Loppi centre and east of Forssa town centre. It is the largest sports aviation centre in the Nordic countries, and one of the busiest general aviation airfields ...

is located in Loppi. It is home to the Finnish Sports Aviation Academy and one of the busiest

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airfields in Finland.

Notable people

Julius Ailio Julius Ailio (19 July 1872 – 4 March 1933) was a Finnish archaeologist and a Social Democratic politician. He was a member of the Senate of Finland. He was born in Loppi Loppi (; Swedish also ) is a municipality in Finland. It is locate ...

(1872–1933), an archaeologist and politician *

Timo Jurkka Timo Jurkka (born 6 October 1963, in Helsinki) is a Finnish actor, the son of actor Sakari Jurkka. Jurkka is also a musician. He writes songs and composes as well as performs songs accompanied with guitar. Jurkka has performed in the theatre o ...

(born 1963), an actor * Mikko Lahtio (born 1984), a middle-distance runner * Sami Lähteenmäki (born 1989), an ice hockey player *

Heikki Mikkola Heikki Antero Mikkola (born 6 July 1945) is a Finnish former professional motocross racer and motocross team manager. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1967 to 1979, most prominently as a member of the Husqvarna factory raci ...

(born 1945), a motocross racer * Otto Paajanen (born 1992), an ice hockey player * Kalle Sievänen (1911–1996), a sport shooter

Sources

Literature

References

External links

Municipality of Loppi
– Official website
Finnish Sports Aviation Academy

Räyskälä AirfieldHyrinet – Hyvinkää–Riihimäki area portal
{{authority control Municipalities of Kanta-Häme Populated places established in 1632 1632 establishments in Sweden