Place:Porvoo, Uusimaa, Finland

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Porvoo is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval towns of Finland, along with Turku, Ulvila, Rauma, Naantali and Vyborg. It is first mentioned as a city in texts from the 14th century. Porvoo is the seat of the Swedish-speaking Diocese of Borgå of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Porvoo was briefly the capital of the former Eastern Uusimaa region.

Porvoo Old Town is a popular tourist destination, known for its well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century buildings, and the 15th-century Porvoo Cathedral. The Old Town and the Porvoonjoki River Valley are recognized as, together, one of the National landscapes of Finland.

The municipality's official languages are Finnish and Swedish. In 2014, 64.6% of the population spoke Finnish as their native language, while 30.1% were Swedish speakers, and 5.4% had different native languages.

The municipalities neighbouring Porvoo are Askola, Loviisa, Myrskylä, Pornainen, and Sipoo; and the sub-region maintained by Porvoo includes Askola, Myrskylä and Pukkila.

History

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The area of Porvoo has been inhabited since the Stone Age. In prehistoric times, the river Porvoonjoki was a route of commerce for Finnish tribal Tavastians who primarily inhabited the inland regions. The Tavastians also had some permanent settlements in the area, such as the village of Hattula (later Strömsberg), which was named after an inland Tavastian village. The original name of the river Porvoonjoki was possibly Kukinjoki. The name derives from the name of the trade vessel cog which was a common merchant ship in the Baltic Sea in medieval times. The early center of the area was Saksala, meaning "the place of the Germans", and deriving from the merchants who were trading in Saksala.

Porvoo was colonised by Swedes in the 13th and 14th centuries after the so-called Second Crusade against Tavastians in 1249–1250. The colonisation was led by the Catholic Church and the kingdom of Sweden. The colonists originated from Svealand, and were provided with seeds, cattle and, tax exemption for four years.^[1]

The oldest known written mentions of Porvoo are from the early 14th century. In circa 1380, Porvoo became the third town in Finland to be granted official town rights, after Turku in 1229 and Ulvila in 1365. However, it is also claimed to have been founded as early as 1347, which would make it the second oldest after Turku. Due to land rise and loss of shipping access, Ulvila lost town rights to nearby Pori in 1558.^[2]

When Sweden lost the city of Vyborg to Russia in 1721, the episcopal see was moved to Porvoo in 1723.^[3] At this time, Porvoo was the second largest city in Finland.

In 1760, roughly two-thirds of all buildings in Porvoo burned to the ground in a conflagration. During rebuilding, the city planning wasn't altered, instead new buildings were built upon the existing medieval foundations.

After the conquest of Finland by Russian armies in 1808, Sweden had to cede Finland to Russia in 1809 (the Treaty of Fredrikshamn). The Diet of Porvoo in 1809 was a landmark in the History of Finland. The Tsar Alexander I confirmed the new Finnish constitution (which was essentially the Swedish constitution from 1772), and made Finland an autonomous Grand Duchy. In 1923, six years after Finland's independence, the former Diocese of Vyborg, which operated in Porvoo, was replaced by a current Swedish-speaking diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the Diocese of Porvoo.

The Porvoo Common Statement is a report issued at the conclusion of theological conversations by official representatives of four Anglican churches and eight Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches in 1989–1992. It established the Porvoo Communion, so named after the Porvoo Cathedral where the Eucharist was celebrated on the final Sunday of the conversations leading to the Statement.

The old city of Porvoo was formally disestablished and the new city of Porvoo founded in 1997, when the city of Porvoo and the rural municipality of Porvoo were consolidated.

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