Showcase April - Näsinneula Tower
I made this post on Dec 1 2018. I was visiting Tampere, the city I grew up in. In 1969, an observation tower called Näsinneula was built that is still the tallest one in the country. Tampere is second city of Finland. While only the third most populous municipality, its urban area is the second largest after that of Helsinki. It's located two hours northwest of Helsinki. Tampere, and the region it is in, is south of Southern Ostrobothnia, a region stereotypically inhabited by megalomaniacs. Southern Ostrobothnia is a western region of mainly flat agricultural land. One of its oddities is Tuuri village store, a modest little village store with six million customers per year. The place is massive and tacky as hell but its owner seems to be a genius at promoting it. I don't think it's a co-incidence that Southern Ostrobothnia has produced a disproportionate number of Finland's top business leaders, including Jorma Ollila, a long-time CEO of Nokia, and Matti Ala-Huhta, a long-time board member of Nokia. When the large-scale migration towards the largest cities began after the second world war, Tampere was conveniently located for Southern Ostrobothnian migrants as it is a large regional center in the southwest of the country.
Tampere is known for its mega-projects that are large for a small city (pop. 235,000, urban area 320,000) including the tower, the 2.5 long tunnel on the shore of the big northern lake Näsijärvi to clear the way for an entirely new district, and the light rail system. Here's one of them.
My daughter and I drove up to Tampere to visit my parents yesterday evening. My wife at home is correcting a pile of papers. I decided to visit Näsinneula, the 168 m tall observation tower on the shore of Lake Näsijärvi in Särkänniemi where there is also a funfair. There was no snow in Tampere despite the freezing weather today. There was a little bit of snow in Lahti when we left.
Näsinneula, construction completed in 1971
You could clearly feel the acceleration and deceleration.
A view to the east. The highway on the shoreline was cut off to make room for the new residential area at the lakefront and a 2.4 km long tunnel was constructed which is where the highway runs now. The bridge is for pedestrians only now. It looks blown out of proportion.
There used to be a dolphinarium in that building until 2016. The dolphins are in Attika, Greece now. The only one left in the Nordic countries is in Kolmården Zoo in Sweden.
The district of Pispala on top of the ridge in the middle. Lake Pyhäjärvi is in the background. During the Civil War, Pispala was one of the last holdouts of the Red Guard during the Battle of Tampere in April 1918.
Because the cafeteria windows were quite dirty on the lower level, I went up to the restaurant on the upper level. The staff allowed me to take photograps there because the restaurant wasn't open for business, yet. It's most likely the best restaurant in the city. The automatic washers keep the windows clean.
The section where the tables are rotates to give the diners the best views.
The easternmost part of the Särkänniemi fun fair.
The eastern part of the city center. The lake you see in the distance was frozen over when I drove past it at noon today. The big lakes probably won't freeze over until after Christmas.
The smoke comes from a board mill still operating in the centre. When I was at university, we visited it once. The manager told us that it won't be moved because it would cost way too much to shut down production for as long as it would take to relocate the factory. Its products are high-end packaging materials.
Hotel Torni
A view to the south over Pyynikki ridge and Lake Pyhäjärvi
The old Pyynikki observation tower.
Mustalahti boat harbour
Hämeensilta bridge is being widened. A lightrail network is under construction in Tampere and the rail traffic needs space.
The western side of the central market square, Keskustori. The second building on the left is the city hall. The building across the market square is part of the Finlayson factory complex. There is a cinema, a shopping centre and a number of offices in the building now.