Ten truths about Riihimäki

Have you ever wondered how long the brick wall of Riihimäki prison is? And what is the tallest chimney in Riihimäki? Whether you were or not, here are some facts about Riihimäki:

• There are 17 people living in Riihimäki whose last name is Riihimäki.
• In 1960, Riihimäki had 974 street lamps. There are currently 7690 street lights.
• There are 168 steps to the top of the Riihimäki water tower.
• In 1966, Riihimäki School of Business was the first business school in Finland to teach a basic computer course. For a long time, information technology teaching was a special feature of business schools.
• The oldest objects in the Riihimäki City Museum, a chisel and an axe, are from the Mesolithic Stone Age, which in Finland dates back to the period 8850–5200 BC. The Mesolithic Stone Age is also known as the hunter-gatherer period, because the culture of that time was based on hunting and fishing, as well as gathering mushrooms, berries and plants. The Riihimäki City Museum also has several other Stone Age objects on display.

 

• Riihimäki's tallest chimneys are located at Fortum Waste Solutions' Kuuloja plant. Their height is a little over 70 meters.
• 60 residents of Riihimäki will celebrate their 406th birthday with the city of Riihimäki this year. Good luck!
• One of the strangest objects in the collection of the Finnish Museum of Glass is a compressed fiberglass boat with a height of 24 centimeters, a length of 74 centimeters and a width of 27 centimeters. The boat has Flipper 717 s - sticker markings.
• The explosion of Riihimäki is the explosion of an ammunition wagon that happened in the civil war. It happened when the attack of the German Baltic Division continued north of Helsinki, on Riihimäki. An ammunition wagon in the railway yard exploded after being hit by an artillery shell. According to contemporaries, the explosion "stunned the ears in a radius of kilometers, raised flames tens of meters high, twisted the rails into a bend and sent pieces of them three kilometers away."
• The best-known social animal in Riihimäki is probably Omenalaakso's Blaze Labrador retriever. Its special feature is whiteness, which colors Blaze's black fur white. Blaze has about 11700 followers on Instagram. Blaze can also be followed on Facebook and Tiktok. In addition, it has received both domestic and international media attention.

 

• The most mysterious object in the Riihimäki Art Museum is a wooden Horus sculpture from the collection of Egyptian objects. Horus is a hawk-headed Ancient Egyptian sun and sky god, son of Isis and Osiris. According to Egyptian mythology, Horus avenged the killing of his father Osiris by Seth and took his place as king of Egypt. Wooden statues are associated with ancient burial rituals. The coffin of the deceased was transported on a boat carved from wood, with various gods on board. The statue is currently on display in the art museum.
• The industrial production of yogurt began in Finland at Tuottajain Maito Oy's Herajoki dairy in 1968. The product range initially included unflavored yogurt and strawberry, blueberry, and pineapple yogurts. The price of a two deciliter pack of unflavored yogurt was 35 pence and flavored yogurts 50 pence.
• The brick wall of Riihimäki prison is 640 meters long.
• In 1960, the most borrowed domestic works of Riihimäki library were Väinö Linna: Täalä Under the Pohjantähten alla, Niilo Lauttamus: Silent soldiers and Mauri Sariola: Neither spell nor prayer. There were 22102 books in Riihimäki's library. The top three most borrowed domestic books of the current year in the Riihimäki library include Enni Mustonen's Sotaleski and Taiteilija vamo and Ilkka Remsen's Kremlin Fist. There are 180172 books in the library.
• Pomolinna is a house built in the 1940s for the management of Riihimäen Saha Oy, located at the corner of Paloheimonkatu and Välittäjä. Nälkälinna is a house built in the 1940s for employees of Riihimäen Saha Oy, located between Paloheimonkatu and Hallikuja.

 

• The Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of Christ in the Riihimäki garrison was dedicated to the Riihimäki Evangelical Lutheran congregation 60 years ago. The consecration was preceded by extensive renovation of the church, because after Finland's independence, the church had been stripped of its Orthodox emblems and served as a warehouse for a long time. The church received a lot of gifts during its consecration, such as a crystal chalice from the town of Riihimäki. Among the donations, a donation of 5000 old marks by an old carpet weft cutter grandmother was also recorded, which according to Riihimäki's municipal report was a real widow's haunch.
• About 41 million candles are produced annually at the Havi factory in Riihimäki.
• In addition to Finnish, the most common native languages ​​spoken in Riihimäki include Estonian, Russian, Vietnamese, Swedish, Thai, Arabic, English, Chinese and Polish. Among the rarest mother tongues of the people of Riihmäki are Belarusian, Uzbek, Twi, Czech, Tigrinya, Sinhalese, Serbo-Korea, Samoan, Sami, Moldavian and Hebrew. Finnish is the mother tongue of 27167 Riihimäkelians.
• One of the most special objects in the hunting museum is the carbide cannon Exid, which has been used to chase deer and other animals from nurseries and fields. When the carbide gas in the cannon reaches a certain pressure, it explodes and produces a loud sound similar to the bang of a shotgun. The device is on display in the museum's basic exhibition.
• Sixty years ago, on September 11, the town of Riihimäki and the Riihimäki–Pietari railway were celebrated. The highlight of the celebration was a historical procession, the script of which was prepared by senior teacher Pulkkila from Jyväskylä. Among others, Riihimäki theater, Kisapirti stage, school teachers and students and garrison officers participated in the procession.

Text edited on August 22, 2024. Removed an incorrect point from the caption that referred to the beginning of Riihimäki's robotics education.

Marke Harkas