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Loimaa

Town in Southwest Finland, Finland

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Loimaa (Finnish: [ˈloi̯mɑː]; historical Swedish: Loimijoki) is a town and municipality of Finland.

It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of 15,124 (31 December 2025) and covers an area of 851.93 square kilometers (328.93 sq mi) of which 3.96 km2 (1.53 sq mi) is water. The population density is 17.83 inhabitants per square kilometer (46.2/sq mi).

Loimaa's neighboring municipalities are Huittinen, Humppila, Koski Tl, Marttila, Oripää, Punkalaidun, Pöytyä, Somero, Säkylä and Ypäjä.

01History

First mentions of Loimaa come from the year 1439 but a parish was founded in the area already a decade earlier. The town was founded in its current form in 1876 as the railway between Turku and Toijala was completed.

A legend of Prättäkitti is heavily associated with Loimaa.

The town of Loimaa merged with Loimaan kunta (literally "Municipality of Loimaa") on 1 January 2005 and with the municipalities of Alastaro and Mellilä on 1 January 2009.

The name Loimaa comes from the river Loimijoki which flows through the town.

Mill of Vesikoski in the shores of river Loimijoki. Visible in the background are old industrial buildings.
Mill of Vesikoski in the shores of river Loimijoki. Visible in the background are old industrial buildings.

02Politics

After the 2025 municipal election the municipal council of Loimaa is as follows:

Party Share of votes (%) Seats
Centre Party * 31.7 11
National Coalition Party 18.6 6
Finns Party 7.5 2
Our Loimaa 11.9 4
Left 9.6 3
Social democrats 13.9 4
Christian democrats * 2.3 1
Greens 3.5 1

* The Centre Party and Christian Democrats formed an electoral alliance for the election.

03Culture

A local speciality is piapo, a version of kama.

Rompepäivät (lit. "junk days") is an annual event that takes place in August. It brings together trunk show enthusiasts selling both old and new merchandise as well as food and entertainment. The trunk show is located at the historic market square of Loimaa, now known as Peltoinen, and draws in 8,000-10,000 visitors.

The local newspaper is called Loimaan Lehti. It first started publishing in 1915 and today comes out three times a week: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

04Subdivisions and villages

Alastaron-Mäenpää, Eura, Haara, Haaroinen, Haitula, Hartoinen, Hattula, Hirvikoski, Hurskala, Ilmarinen, Inkilä, Joenperä, Juva, Karhula, Karsattila, Kartanonmäki, Kauhanoja, Kemppilä, Kesärlä, Klockarla, Koenperä, Kojonkulma, Krekilä, Kuninkainen, Kurittula, Kuttila, Köyliö, Lappijoki, Levälä, Lähde, Metsämaa, Mäenpää, Niemi, Niinijoki, Onkijoki, Pahikainen, Pappinen, Peltoinen, Piltola, Puujalkala, Raikkola, Seppälä, Sieppala, Suopelto, Torkkala, Vesikoski, and Vilvainen.

05Sights

The church of Loimaa Proper in Hirvikoski
The church of Loimaa Proper in Hirvikoski

06Sports

The city is home to the Bisons Loimaa basketball club, 2012 and 2013 Champion of the Korisliiga. The club regularly qualifies for international competitions. It plays its home games at the Loimaa Sports Center and on some occasions moves to the Energia Areena. The city is also home to the Hurrikaani Loimaa volleyball club, regularly qualifies for international competitions such as CLvolleyM and SM-league.

07Religion

The most popular religion among the inhabitants is the Evangelical Lutheranism: 4/5 of the local population is a member of the Loimaa Congregation, this has existed since 1420's. In total there are six lutheran churches scattered around the municipality's area.

The following Christian revival movements inside Lutheranism are represented in Loimaa:

Other Christian denominations are Pentecostals who are represented by a local association (Finnish Elävät Virrat ry) since 2018. The Evangelical Free Church of Finland has an office in Loimaa, although it's managed from Forssa. Inside the Finnish Orthodox Church Loimaa belongs to the congregation of Turku and an Orthodox mass is held regularly in Loimaa.

Apart from Christian denominations, Loimaa also hosts a Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses. There's also a Buddhist meditation center (Mahayana and Vajrayana) ran by the Buddhist Dharma Center in its Tibet Art Center, which has bee a registered as a religious association since 1998.

08Notable people

09International relations

Twin towns, sister cities

Loimaa is twinned with the following towns.

Loimaa, Skien, Uddevalla, Thisted and Mostfellsbær form the oldest Nordic network of twin towns, which is still active.

Watch videos about LoimaaExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Loimaa, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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