Jyvaskyla - City of Finland

Jyväskylä is a city and municipality located in Central Finland, 147 km from Tampere and 270 km from Helsinki, near the lakes Päijänne and Keitele. It is the center of the Jyväskylä Region. The site of many education-related firsts in Finland, Jyväskylä is known as a city of schools, the Athens of Finland, and is also famous for its many buildings designed by Alvar Aalto and for hosting Neste Oil Rally Finland, which is part of the World Rally Championship. Jyväskylän maalaiskunta , which has its town hall, graveyard and the beautiful church Taulumäen kirkko all conveniently located in central Jyväskylä, will be consolidated with the city in 2009.

Jyväskylä is a traditional education city. A number of firsts in Finnish education have taken place in Jyväskylä:

The first Finnish-speaking Lyceum
The first Finnish-speaking teacher training college
The first Finnish-speaking school for girls
Finland's first Summer University
Due to this, among other things, the city earned the nickname Athens of Finland.

The teacher training college later evolved into the College of Education and further into the multidisciplinary University of Jyväskylä .

The University of Jyväskylä is one of the most popular universities in Finland. Almost 16,000 students are enrolled to study for a Bachelor's or Master's degree, and the university also offers PhD programs in most of its subjects. Historically, the university has excelled in the study of education, but in the last few decades it has also gained respect in the sciences. It is the only university in Finland offering university-level education in sports, training sports teachers and coaches.

Jyväskylä region there are archeological findings from the stone age and cultivation has started already 3500 years ago. According to the oldest available taxation documents there were seven estates in Jyväskylä region in 1539. One of them, the estate of Mattila, alone possessed the areas streching from village of Keljo to villages of Vesanka and Palokka. The history of the estate of Lahti and the family of Lahti have had a significant impact on the development of Jyväskylä region. Lahdenrinne in the south-west corner of Jyväsjärvi lake belongs to the old heartland of the estate of Lahti.