Pyhäjärvi () is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

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 ...

. Although the name means in modern Finnish " holy lake", it probably meant originally "border lake". Pyhäjärvi is shaped like the letter "C" with the cities of

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 ...

and

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

on the northern end, and town of

Lempäälä Lempäälä (; Swedish also ) is a municipality in the Pirkanmaa region of Finland with inhabitants (). Lempäälä is located south of the city of Tampere. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The ...

at the southern end. The lake is fed by the water running through the Tammerkoski rapids in the center of Tampere from the North, and by the waters from lake

Vanajavesi Vanajavesi is a large lake in southern Finland, in the provinces of Pirkanmaa and Kanta-Häme. It is part of the Kokemäenjoki basin. The lake gathers waters from a wide area in the regions of Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper and parts of the Päijä ...

in the South. Because of the Tammerkoski rapids, the water in Pyhäjärvi is warmer and richer in ozone than that in the northern lake, Näsijärvi, which results in the life in this lake being richer, even though the water is more polluted. There are a number of other Pyhäjärvis in Finland and its former territories, as well.

References

External links

Kokemäenjoki basin Lakes of Tampere {{WesternFinland-geo-stub