Pori

Pori (Swedish: Björneborg) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some 15 kilometres (9 mi) from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is the most important town in the Satakunta region.

The municipality has a population of 83,042 (31 January 2011) and covers an area of 1,704.07 square kilometres (657.95 sq mi) of which 870.01 km2 (335.91 sq mi) is water. The population density is 99.56 /km2 (257.9 /sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Pori is the 11th largest city in Finland, and the 7th largest urban area.

The Neo-Gothic Juselius Mausoleum, located in the Käppärä cemetery in central Pori, was built in 1903 by the wealthy industrialist F.A. Juselius for his daughter Sigrid, who died when she was only 11 years old. The mausoleum was designed by the architect Josef Stenbäck. The mausoleum originally had frescoes painted by artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela, but these decayed after a short time. The frescoes were restored by Akseli's son Jorma Gallen-Kallela using his father's sketches.

Pori is known, among other things, for the sandy beaches of Yyteri and for hosting Pori Jazz, an annual international jazz festival. Performers at the jazz fesival have included Miles Davis, The Brand New Heavies and Steely Dan

The local newspaper in Pori is the Satakunnan Kansa paper, giving an overview of the recent news. There are also sports and children's articles included.

Pori gives relatively strong support to the Social Democratic Party. In 2008, the party gained 29.8% of the votes, while the second largest party, National Coalition Party, got 26.1%. The mayor of Pori is Aino-Maija Luukkonen, who was elected to run the city in 2004 after the former mayor, Martti Sinisalmi, retired from the post.