Virrat

Virrat (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈʋirːɑt̪]; Swedish: Virdois) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region, and it is located 104 kilometres (65 mi) north of Tampere and 113 kilometres (70 mi) west of Jyväskylä. The distance between Virrat and Helsinki is 285 kilometres (177 mi). The town has a population of 6,543 (31 July 2020)[2] and covers an area of 1,299.07 square kilometres (501.57 sq mi) of which 136.73 km² (52.79 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 5.63 inhabitants per square kilometre (14.6/sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Virrat Virdois
Town
Virtain kaupunki Virdois stad
An intersection of Virtaintie and Leivontie streets in Virrat
Coat of arms
Location of Virrat in Finland
Coordinates: 62°15′N 023°46′E
Country	Finland
Region	Pirkanmaa
Sub-region	Upper Pirkanmaa sub-region
Charter	1868
Government
• Town manager	Juha Viitasaari
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	1,299.07 km^2 (501.57 sq mi)
• Land	1,162.34 km^2 (448.78 sq mi)
• Water	136.73 km^2 (52.79 sq mi)
Area rank	63rd largest in Finland
Population  (2020-07-31)[2]
• Total	6,543
• Rank	145th largest in Finland
• Density	5.63/km^2 (14.6/sq mi)
Population by native language [3]
• Finnish	98.5% (official)
• Swedish	0.1%
• Others	1.4%
Population by age [4]
• 0 to 14	13.4%
• 15 to 64	61.7%
• 65 or older	25%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Municipal tax rate[5]	19.75%
Website	www.virrat.fi

The town grew rapidly in the middle years of the twentieth century, and by 1950 the population reached more than 12,000. Virrat acquired town status in 1977, although it had received the right to hold markets three years earlier, in 1974. More recently the population level has been adversely impacted by the drift of employment opportunities and people to the larger towns. Apart from the town of Virrat itself, the administratively defined municipality is largely rural, and includes the villages of Äijänneva, Härkönen Jäähdyspohja, Killinkoski, Koro, Kotala, Kurjenkylä, Liedenpohja, Ohtola, Vaskuu and Vaskivesi.

Major lakes in the area are Lake Toisvesi, beside which the town of Virrat is located, and Lake Tarjanne at the border of the municipalities of Virrat, Mänttä-Vilppula and Ruovesi.

Virrat crater on Mars is named after it.

Notable people

• Seppo Hovinen (born 1951), a Finnish javelin thrower
• I. K. Inha (1865–1930), a Finnish photographer, author, translator and journalist
• Antti Lieroinen (?–1643), a famous Finnish cunning man and death-sentenced for witchcraft
• Vesa Rantanen (born 1975), a Finnish pole vaulter
• Tom Sukanen (1873–1943), a Finnish-born Canadian sailor and farmer

Gallery

• 
  Virrat Town Hall
• 
  Virrat Church
• 
  A secondary school of Virrat
• 
  Virrat Library
• 
  A summer hotel Domus
• 
  A beach at the Kalettomanlahti Bay in Virrat

References

1. "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
2. "Suomen virallinen tilasto (SVT): Väestön ennakkotilasto [verkkojulkaisu]. Heinäkuu 2020" (in Finnish). Statistics Finland. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
3. "Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area km2 by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
4. "Population according to age and gender by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
5. "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2011". Tax Administration of Finland. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.

External links

Media related to Virrat at Wikimedia Commons

• Town of Virrat – Official site (in Finnish, English, and German)