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History of Imatra


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The Borough of Imatra was formed from certain areas of Ruokolahti, Joutseno and Jääski in 1948 after the Second World War and received its municipal charter in 1971.

The Imatra region has been inhabited since the Stone Age and boasts several Stone Age settlements. The first written records concerning Imatra date from the 16th Century: tax inventories from that period contain references to taxes paid on salmon fishing on the River Vuoksi.



Catherine the Great, the Empress of All the Russias, visited Imatra in July 1772. The date marks the beginning of the official history of tourism at the Imatrankoski Rapids. Tourism reached its peak in the 19th Century during Finland's period as an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia. It did not take long to travel from St Petersburg to Imatra, and the rapids were an exotic attraction for the Russians. Even at that time Finland - with its well maintained roads and excellent travel services compared with the poor facilities found in Russia - was an advantageous shopping place for the Russians.



In 1892 the railway came to Imatra, which immediately shortened the journey from St Petersburg and increased the influx of tourists. In 1903 the Grand Hotel Cascade d'Imatra (the Valtionhotelli) opened its doors; earlier hotels had preceded it on the banks of the rapids but they had been destroyed in fires. This belle époque of tourism lasted until the First World War. After Finland's independence in 1917, the Russians found themselves barred from crossing the border and the remote location of the Imatrankoski Rapids near the Russian border no longer held any attraction to Finnish tourists. The 1920s saw the construction of the Imatrankoski power station; after that, the rapids were allowed to surge free only for special shows.



At the end of the 19th Century, industrial production began to exploit the potential of the rapids of River Vuoksi. The harnessing of the rapids increased the
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