Sortavala

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Town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia

title: "Sortavala" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cities-and-towns-in-the-republic-of-karelia", "grand-duchy-of-finland", "history-of-karelia", "former-municipalities-of-finland", "populated-places-in-sortavalsky-district"] description: "Town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortavala" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Russian inhabited locality"]

FieldValue
en_nameSortavala
ru_nameСортавала
other_nameSortavala
other_langKarelian
image_skylineDJI Sortavala 3.jpg
image_captionAn aerial view of the town center of Sortavala in 2020.
coordinates
map_label_positionright
image_coaSortavala Coat of Arms.svg
image_flagSortavala_flag.svg
federal_subjectRepublic of Karelia
federal_subject_ref
adm_city_jurtown of republic significance of Sortavala
adm_city_jur_ref
adm_ctr_oftown of republic significance of Sortavala
adm_ctr_of_ref
inhabloc_catTown
inhabloc_cat_ref
mun_district_jurSortavalsky Municipal District
mun_district_jur_ref
urban_settlement_jurSortavalskoye Urban Settlement
urban_settlement_jur_ref
mun_admctr_of1Sortavalsky Municipal District
mun_admctr_of1_ref
mun_admctr_of2Sortavalskoye Urban Settlement
pop_2010census19235
pop_2010census_ref
established_date1468
established_titleFirst mentioned
websitehttp://городсортавала.рф/
::

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Sortavala (; Finnish and ; ), in Russian sometimes known as Serdobol (), is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish border, 246 km west of Petrozavodsk, the capital city of the Republic of Karelia. The closest city on the Finnish side of the border is Joensuu, which is located 136 km from Sortavala. In 2021, the population of Sortavala was 19,215.

History

The district of Sortavala was first recorded in Swedish documents dating to 1468. Russian documents first mention it as Serdovol or Serdobol in 1500. It was ceded to Sweden after the Ingrian War.

With the 1721 Treaty of Nystad, the settlement was joined to Russia along with the rest of Old Finland and was given the Russian name Serdobol. It became known for its marble and granite quarries which provided materials necessary for construction of imperial palaces in St. Petersburg and its neighborhood. In 1812, along with the rest of Viipuri Province, it was joined to the newly formed Grand Duchy of Finland.

In 1917, the town remained a part of independent Finland. It suffered extensively from mass Soviet bombardment during the Winter War, and through the Moscow Peace Treaty Finland was forced to cede the town to the Soviet Union. All of the population of the town was evacuated for the first time. Like the rest of Finnish Karelia, Sortavala was retaken by Finland during 1941–1944 (the period of the Continuation War) and most evacuees returned to rebuild their homes. However, after the armistice of 1944, the Finns were evacuated again and the town was ceded back empty of population. After the war, the town was resettled by the Russian and Karelian population.

Until 1940, the Ladoga shore southwest of Sortavala had been one of the very few relatively densely populated areas north of the Karelian Isthmus populated by Karelians.

Geography

Features

Climate

|location = Sortavala |metric first = Yes |single line = yes |source = Weather and climate in Sortavala |Jan mean C = -8.4 |Feb mean C = -8.1 |Mar mean C = -3.4 |Apr mean C = 2.6 |May mean C = 9.0 |Jun mean C = 13.9 |Jul mean C = 17.2 |Aug mean C = 15.3 |Sep mean C = 10.2 |Oct mean C = 4.6 |Nov mean C = -1.1 |Dec mean C = -5.3 |year mean C =3.9 |Jan low C = -11.5 |Feb low C = -11.6 |Mar low C = -7.4 |Apr low C = -1.7 |May low C = 3.7 |Jun low C = 9.0 |Jul low C = 12.5 |Aug low C = 10.9 |Sep low C = 6.5 |Oct low C = 2.0 |Nov low C = -3.3 |Dec low C = -8.1 |year low C =0.1 |Jan high C = -5.3 |Feb high C = -4.6 |Mar high C = 0.6 |Apr high C = 7.0 |May high C = 14.2 |Jun high C = 18.8 |Jul high C = 21.9 |Aug high C = 19.6 |Sep high C = 13.9 |Oct high C = 7.2 |Nov high C = 1.1 |Dec high C = -2.4 |year high C =7.7 |Jan record high C = 6.4 |Feb record high C = 8.8 |Mar record high C = 15.0 |Apr record high C = 22.0 |May record high C = 27.5 |Jun record high C = 32.0 |Jul record high C = 35.4 |Aug record high C = 29.9 |Sep record high C = 24.5 |Oct record high C = 18.4 |Nov record high C = 11.4 |Dec record high C = 9.4 |year record high C =35.4 |Jan record low C = -42.8 |Feb record low C = -36.0 |Mar record low C = -28.3 |Apr record low C = -18.6 |May record low C = -6.6 |Jun record low C = -0.8 |Jul record low C = 3.5 |Aug record low C = 0.8 |Sep record low C = -5.8 |Oct record low C = -12.3 |Nov record low C = -24.8 |Dec record low C = -33.2 |year record low C =-42.8 |Jan precipitation mm = 47.2 |Feb precipitation mm = 35.9 |Mar precipitation mm = 34.6 |Apr precipitation mm = 31.7 |May precipitation mm = 42.9 |Jun precipitation mm = 61.8 |Jul precipitation mm = 58.0 |Aug precipitation mm = 84.8 |Sep precipitation mm = 63.5 |Oct precipitation mm = 68.9 |Nov precipitation mm = 65.9 |Dec precipitation mm = 62.4 |year precipitation mm =657.6 |}}

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with two urban-type settlements and forty-seven rural localities, incorporated as the town of republic significance of Sortavala—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of republic significance of Sortavala is incorporated as Sortavalsky Municipal District; the town of Sortavala and ten rural localities are incorporated within it as Sortavalskoye Urban Settlement. The remaining urban-type settlements and rural localities are incorporated within the municipal district into two urban settlements and two rural settlements.[[File:Sortavala - streets of Ulitsa Karel'skaya & Ulitsa Vyaynemyaynena.jpg|thumb|A corner of the Ulitsa Karel'skaya and Ulitsa Vyaynemyaynena streets in the center of Sortavala]]

Transportation

Sortavala is a railway station on the Khiytola-Matkaselkä railway.

Layout and development

Architecture

The central part of the city consists mainly of stone 3-4-storey buildings built at the beginning of the XX century (until the 1930s). As a rule, these are buildings in the style of Northern Art Nouveau (national Romanticism), neoclassicism, the most recent — functionalism, their authors are the most famous Finnish architects Uno Werner Ullberg, Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen, Johan Jacob Arenberg, etc. In addition, a large number of wooden buildings built in the middle of the XIX century, usually in the Empire style, have been preserved. The most notable buildings are:

  • The building of the Bank of Finland (arch. Uno Ulberg, 1915)
  • The building of the United Bank of the Nordic Countries (architect firm GLS, 1905)
  • Lyceum building (arch. Johan Jacob Arenberg, 1901)
  • The gymnasium building (arch. Johan Jakob Arenberg, 1911)
  • The administration building of the Orthodox Church of Finland and the Church of St. John the Apostle (arch. Juhani Viiste, 1935)
  • The house of the merchant Siitonen (arch. Ustin).
  • Wing of the Evangelical Community house File:Дом Леандера.JPG|"Leander's House." Arch. Eliel Saarinen File:Sortvala - Posti.jpg|United Bank of the Nordic Countries (now the Post Office). Arch. Uno Werner Ullberg File:Risti ya Raamattu.jpg|The former building of the publishing house of spiritual literature Risti ja Raamattu. Arch. Vyane Leander File:Sortvala - Pankki.jpg|The former Finnish Bank (now the Bank of Russia). Arch. Uno Werner Ulberg File:Sortavala - Gimnazia2.jpg|Former women's gymnasium. Arch. Johan Jakob Arenberg File:Sortavala - Gimnazia.jpg|Former women's Gymnasium File:Sortavala - ortodoksinen kirkko.jpg|St. Nicholas Church. Arch. Nikolay Grebenka

Industry

Urban development enterprise - Karelian Industrial Complex.

Notable people

Twin towns and sister cities

References

Notes

Sources

References

  1. {{ru-pop-ref. 2010Census
  2. "Population of Sortavala 2022 | Sortavala population - statistics".
  3. [http://heninen.net/sortavala/historia/02_02_1940/english.htm The Soviet bombing of Sortavala in pictures]
  4. Law #871-ZRK
  5. Law #825-ZRK
  6. Law #813-ZRK
  7. "Список объектов культурного наследия и выявленных объектов культурного наследия, находящихся на территории Сортавальского муниципального района".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

cities-and-towns-in-the-republic-of-kareliagrand-duchy-of-finlandhistory-of-kareliaformer-municipalities-of-finlandpopulated-places-in-sortavalsky-district