the GASTROLAB Home Page: Velcome to our Home Town, Vasa

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Welcome to our home town!

Vasa, Finland

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These translations are computer made - so do not judge them to seriously, please!

The Water Tower in Vasa

The town of Vasa is located in the West of Finland about 300 miles from our capital, Helsinki. Vasa has about 60.000 inhabitants, 2/3 finnish speaking and l/3 swedish speaking. Our town has a Central Hospital with about 600 beds, doing for example open heart surgery.

This picture of the water tower region with its nice sky was taken in February, 2000.

The University of Vasa

With about 600 students, the university is an important part of everyday life in Vasa. This is the head building in Brando, but faculties are located around the town. In the old factory building to the right is a high tech laborarotory, Technobotnia.

The Town Hall

Vasa was founded in the year 1606 by the Schwedish king Karl IX. During the 18th century it was one of the most important port towns in the west of Finland. In 1852 the town was totally destroyed by a fire, and rebuilt near the shore. The new harbour is on a island named Vasklot. Wartsila Diesel and ABB are the two most important industries in our town. - This picture was taken on May 1st, 1997

Sauna in the winter

In late summer evenings, the are many tourists in Vasa - from Sweden, Norvay and other parts of Finland. But the inhabitants of Vasa, they are mostly in the archipelago and sitting in there saunas enjoying the scenery and sunny bright evenings. And you can go to the saunas also in the winter, and after the sauna, roll in the snow.

Old hospital building

This is one of the oldest buildings on the Central Hospital area in Vasa, nowadays used as oncologic deparmtent. This picture was taken on Friday, March 21st, 1997.

Central Hospital in Vasa

The new hospital was built in 1956, and has since then been enlarged several times. This picture was taken in spring 1994. The first hospital in Vasa started in 1768 with two beds - one bed for patients from the northern part of Ostrobothnia and one bed for patients from the south Ostrobothnia. 1855 a new district hospilal was opened, with 120 beds, of which 80 were reserved for patients with veneric diseases! In 1902 a local hospital opened its doors, with 72 beds.

The hospital is now a modern central hospital and the only hospital outside the university clinics doing open heart surgery in Finland.

A town filled with museums

Many art museums - as this Nandor Mikola Museum - fill the cultural needs of anyone living in Vasa or traveling to this nice town.

The Trinity Church of Vasa

The Trinity Church of Vasa in the centre of the town was designed by C.A. Setterberg in 1857. The old Vasa was destroyd in a fire in 1852, and the town was rebuilt about 5 km from the old place, at the water front. The church was used for its purpose for the first time in 1862. This picture is taken on January 9th, 1998. More pictures of the churches in our town can be seen here .

Old Pharmacy in Vasa

There are several pharmacies in our town. The one most buitifully locades is the Church Pharmacy (Kyrko-Apoteket) located near the Church of Trinity. This picture was taken on January 9th, 1998.

A Rose of Snow

One of the towns biggest industries is ABB. A group of emplyees of ABB have been very successful in making huge statues of snow. In this picture a rose of snow is made in front of the town hall. The eagle made of ice in the picture to the right was created during the Finnish Championship of Ice Statues in February 2000.