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, "Kuusvooninkinen" or the "Old Factory", was completed in 1837. It was the first modern industrial building in Finland including for example an automatic sprinkler system.
Finlayson factory extended quickly. In the 1850s it was already the largest factory site Nordic countries. In 1900 Finlayson had nearly 3300 employees and it was a “town inside the town”. Finlayson had its own church, school, ships and electric railway. First electric light in Finland was also turned on in a building called Plevna (1882). Nottbeck family built two magnificent palaces near the factory area.
During the Finnish Civil War in 1918 Tampere was the center of red army. Poor living conditions turned Finlayson and near Tampella factory labour to support the socialism and many of them were joined to red guards. Heavy battles were fought in the factory area and city centre. Plenty of Finlayson workers were died in battles of executed when the white army conquered Tampere.
Finlayson textile business was downsized seriously since the 1980s and manufacturing ended in Tampere in the beginning of the 1990s. Today there are museums, offices, movie theater and shopping centre in old factory buildings. The rapids together with old red-brick factory buildings make the area one of Finland's national heritage landscapes.
Thanks Mari, very good clarification. I updated the description.
In your article you mention that James Finlayson is English industrialist, however, I need to correct that he is Scottish.
Spišskà Kapitula, a unique fortified ecclesiastical ensemble, began as a small fortified settlement overlooking Spišské Podhradie in the 12th century. It was the site of the residence of the Provost of the castle, in the no longer extant St Martin"s monastery, and later became a capitulary. This was destroyed in by Tatars in 1241-1243, but the pilgrim"s chapel, in rotunda form and dedicated to the Virgin, survived until the 18th century and the monastery until the 15th century.
The complex of buildings there is based on the Cathedral of St Martin, where building began in 1285 as a three-aisled Romanesque basilica with a chancel at the west end and a double spire. It owes its present form to successive remodellings and additions in the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles.
The Provost's residence was completed in 1281 and further religious buildings were added. Frequent raids by marauding Bulgars and others led to its being fortified in the 14th century. The cathedral was rebuilt in the later 14th century. In 1776 it became the residence of the Bishop and four years later a seminary was established. In 1819 the first teacher training centre in Hungary was founded there.
The Bishop's Palace is largely Baroque, with some excellent interior decorations, like many of the religious buildings in the group. The oval ground plan of the centre of the town is due to its having been fortified in the 14th century. The various religious buildings had defensive functions in this early period. New monastery buildings were erected when the provost"s residence was rebuilt and the whole area fortified. The earlier central fortifications were removed in the 18th century.
Spišské Kapitula is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments.