Virkkala (; ) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Lohja Lohja (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Lohja is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Lohja is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, munici ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, located about 8 kilometers southwest of the center of Lohja along

Hanko Highway The Finnish national road 25 (, ''Hangonväylä''; , ''Hangöleden'') is the main route between the major cities of Hanko and Hyvinkää in southern Finland. It runs from Tulliniemi in Hanko to the Maisala in Mäntsälä, where it continues to P ...

(Vt 25). Lake Lohja is located right next to Virkkala on its western side. The urban center of Virkkala has businesses as well as a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

, and parish center. Most of the Swedish-speaking settlement in Lohja was concentrated in the Virkkala area.

Petter Forsström Petter Teodor Forsström (7 November 1877 Särkisalo - 13 November 1967 Lohja) was a Finnish industrialist, Vuorineuvos and the father of the Lohja lime industry. Forsström worked as Lohjan Kalkkitehdas Oy's (Lohja Lime Factory Ltd) managing dire ...

(1877–1967), ''

vuorineuvos (, 'mining councilor', literally Finnish for 'mountain councilor'; Swedish: ) is both a Finnish honorary title and a historical Swedish role on the Swedish Board of Mines. The Finnish title is granted by the President of Finland to leading f ...

'' known as Kalkki-Petteri, gave the initial impetus to Virkkala's development. During the recession of the 1990s, was merged with

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

into Metra, which sold the plant to the Swedish Euroc Group. Euroc closed the plant in 1994. Today, the plant area is known as the Kalkkipetteri area, and there are dozens of small businesses. The Rauhala and Risti

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

s are located in Virkkala, the Swedish-language Virkby School.

Secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s include Järnefelt School (named after

Arvid Järnefelt Arvid Järnefelt (November 16, 1861December 27, 1932) was a Finnish judge and writer born in Pulkovo, Russian Empire. Järnefelt was among the founders of the Finnish language literary and cultural magazine ''Valvoja ''Valvoja'' ( Finnish ...

) and the Swedish-speaking Källhagens School. Virkkala is also home to the city’s only Swedish-language

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, the Virkby Gymnasium. Secondary schools and high schools also serve the residents of

Siuntio Siuntio (; ) is a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Southern Finland. Its neighboring municipalities are Ingå to the west, Kirkkonummi to the east, Lohja to the north-west, and Vihti to the north. It is west of Helsinki. As of 2021, the p ...

Ingå Ingå (; , ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern coast of the country. Ingå is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Ingå is approximately , while the Raseborg sub-region, sub-region has a popul ...

and

Karjalohja Karjalohja (; ) is a former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. Before merging into Lohja, the municipality had a population of (31 December 2012) and covered an area of ...

within a radius of about 30 kilometers. A small animal clinic was opened in Virkkala in 2010, which has now moved to Tynninharju. Extensive renovation work on the city center began in Virkkala in the early 2010s, which stretched for several years, leading to business closures and significantly reducing parking spaces. The Virkkala Church of the Lohja Parish was designed by architect Mikael Nordenswan and was completed in 1953. The Kässä Culture House and the protected Pähkinäniemi grove area with a

nature trail An educational trail (or sometimes educational path), nature trail or nature walk is a specially developed hiking trail or footpath that runs through the countryside, along which there are marked stations or stops next to points of natural scienc ...

are also located in Virkkala. The

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing, but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards the end of the century. The palais de danse was a term ap ...

in the area burned down in the winter of 2015.

References

External links

Virkkala
- Official website {{SouthernFinland-geo-stub Lohja

See also

References

External links