Top historic sites in Tampere
Tampere City Hall
Tampere neo-renaissance city hall was built in 1890 and was designed by Georg Schreck. At first all city bureaus were located to the city hall. During the Great Strike in 1905, the so-called "Red Manifest" was read from the balcony of the Tampere City Hall. The manifest was drawn up on behalf of the strike committee by several leaders of the Finnish Social Democrats. Among the demands made in the manifest were the resigna ...Hatanpää Manor
First record of Hatanpää dates back to year 1540 and the first manor was built in the 1690s. Hans Boije (1717-1781) improved the farming business and increased Hatanpää prosperity significantly. He also built an English garden to Hatanpää with and hired 30 gardeners to maintain it. Boije was a freemasonry and added an stone to the park with Greek engraving Egno Kyrios tous ontas antou (Lord k ...The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas
The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas is located in the historical Finlayson cotton mill area. At Werstas, you can visit the Textile Industry Museum, the Steam Engine Museum as well as the Labour Museum's changing and permanent exhibitions.The exhibitions at Werstas offer an overview of the history of the industrial era, worker population and civil society from different perspectives. The constantly refreshed exhibitions pres ...Finlayson
Finlayson ironworks and metallurgy factory was established in 1820 by the Scottish industrialist James Finlayson when he was noticed the energy potential of the free rapids in Tampere. Machine business was not very profitable and Finlayson started to manufacture and weave cotton yarn and textiles. James Finlayson sold the factory to Carl Samuel Nottbeck and Georg Rauch already in 1836. Oldest still existing building, "Kuu ...Lenin Museum
The Lenin museum is located at the old Worker's Hall of Tampere, where V. I. Lenin and Josef Stalin met for the first time in 1905. It was opened in 1946 to present the life and ideas of Lenin. Today the museum focuses more widely to material related to Lenin's life and activities and the history of the Soviet Union.Tampere Cathedral
The national romantic cathedral was designed by Lars Sonck and built between 1902 and 1907. In the beginning of the 20th century Russification was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at limiting the special status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and possibly the termination of its autonomy. This caused the rise of the national romanticism in Finland and Tampere Cathedral was one of the most remarkable examples ...Messukylä Old Church
The older church in Messukylä, dedicated to St. Michael, is the oldest building in Tampere. First wooden church in Messukylä was built in the 15th century, probably 1434. The present stone church was built to replace the previous one probably between 1510-1530. The oldest still existing part is the sacristy built in the end of 15th century. During the Civil War (1918), Messukylä was the scene of heavy batt ...Näsilinna Palace
The Neo-Baroque palace Näsilinna was built by Finlayson factory owner Peter von Nottbeck in 1898. It was designed by architect K.A.Wrede. Due to deaths in the owner's family, Näsilinna was soon left without residents, and the city of Tampere bought it in 1905. It was changed to museum already in 1908.Later Näsilinna was unoccupied for years and dilapidated badly. The restoration was completed in 2015. The f ...Amuri Museum of Workers' Housing
Starting from the 19th century, Amuri was originally mainly a residence area for the workers of the Finlayson factory. It consisted of blocks of wooden houses built together, which were replaced by low-rise apartment buildings in the 1970s and 1980s. In the Amuri Museum of Workers' Housing a part of old Amuri is preserved. The museum features five residential buildings that still stand in their original locations and ...Alexander Church & The Church Park
The neogothic Alexander Church was built in 1880-1881. The church was named after the Russian tzar Alexander II. It was damaged badly by fire in 1937, but renovated next year.Nearby the church is Pyynikki Church Park, which functioned as a cemetery from the year 1785 to the late 1880's. Although the cemetery site has been a park over over hundred years, there are still many old tombstones existing. According the legend af ...Rajaportin Sauna
Rajaportin sauna is the oldest working public sauna in Finland. It was founded in 1906 by Hermanni Lahtinen and his wife Maria. The main building with bakery and a shop was erected first, then followed by a smaller cottage, the sauna and a so called “taylor’s house”.Today, the Rajaportti block belongs to the city of Tampere. Since 1989 the Pispala sauna association has been responsible for activities at ...Kaleva Church
Kaleva Church in Tampere is very exceptional church building in Finland. The modern church was designed by Reima and Raili Pietilä and it was completed in 1966.Vertical windows reaching from floor to ceiling give lot of light inside highlight the cathedral-style height of the building. Kaleva Church is characterized by space, light and and long shapes inside. There are also lot of wooden surfaces inside the church. The l ...Pispala City District
Pispala is a city district located on the northern slope of Pispalanharju, the highest esker in Finland. Together with Pyynikki, Pispala is widely considered the most beautiful district of Tampere and tourists are often guided there for the view and the unique urban design features of the area.Pispala is named after the House of Pispa, which had the obligation to house the bishops during their travel. Pispala was all farm ...Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Broch of Gurness
The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.
The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.
The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.
The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.
Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.
At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.
In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.