Hollola (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈholːolɑ]) is a municipality of Finland, located in the western part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality is unilingually Finnish and has a population of 22,887 (31 December 2023)^[2] and covers an area of 727.47 square kilometres (280.88 sq mi) of which 68.66 km² (26.51 sq mi) is water.^[1] The population density is 35.13 inhabitants per square kilometre (91.0/sq mi).

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Hollola
Municipality
Hollolan kunta Hollola kommun
The medieval church of Hollola
Coat of arms
Location of Hollola in Finland
Coordinates: 60°59.2′N 025°31′E
Country	Finland
Region	Päijänne Tavastia
Sub-region	Lahti sub-region
Charter	1865
Government
• Municipal manager	Päivi Rahkonen
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	727.47 km2 (280.88 sq mi)
• Land	651.41 km2 (251.51 sq mi)
• Water	68.66 km2 (26.51 sq mi)
• Rank	132nd largest in Finland
Population  (2023-12-31)[2]
• Total	22,887
• Rank	45th largest in Finland
• Density	35.13/km2 (91.0/sq mi)
Population by native language [3]
• Finnish	96.7% (official)
• Swedish	0.3%
• Others	2.9%
Population by age [4]
• 0 to 14	16.9%
• 15 to 64	57.7%
• 65 or older	25.3%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website	hollola.fi/en/

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Hollola's neighboring municipalities are Asikkala in the north, Hausjärvi and Hämeenlinna in the west, Lahti in the east and Kärkölä and Orimattila in the south. Hollola belongs to the Lahti region. It is 111 km (68.97 mi) from Hollola to Helsinki and 121 km (75.18 mi) to Tampere.

Hollola's municipal center is Salpakangas, which is located along highway 12 near the western border of Lahti. The small church village of Hollola remains next to it. Hämeenkoski was merged with Hollola on January 1, 2016.^[5] Areas from the municipality of Hollola have been annexed to the city of Lahti several times.

Hollola has the tallest structure in Finland, the Tiirismaa TV-Tower.

A popular resort in Hollola is Messilä. There you can cross-country ski, downhill skiing, hike, and golf. There is a hotel and a camping site in Messilä. Messilä is located by Vesijärvi.

In 2018, Hollola hosted the Jukola Relays.^[6] This Orienteering event is a night relay, and one of the most popular orienteering events in the world by number of competitors.

Hollola is a municipality located west of Lahti. There were 1,527 leisure apartments there at the end of 2013.^[11]

The city of Lahti and Lake Vesijärvi, located in the middle of Hollola municipality, divide the municipality into Maakansa, located on the west side of the lake, and Vesikansa, located on the east side. Maakansa forms the main part of the municipality's area. Paimela, Kalliola and Kukkila are listed from the Asikkala border in the north to the Lahti border in the south.

The banks of Hollola's Lake Päijänne have been inhabited since the Stone Age because of its fish population. During the Viking Age, Hollola developed into an important center, the most densely populated area of which was the Vainio region. Hollola also contains the Kirkailanmäki cemetery.^[14]

After the Swedish crusade to Hämee and the establishmen of the Catholic Church in the area, Päijät-Hämee became a border region of the Swedish Empire. A chain of 13 ancient fortresses has been found in Finland, of which the hill fort Kapatuosia has been the most thoroughly studied. In addition to the ancient fortress of Kapatuosia, the Hankaa and Laitiala Kiiluanmäki fortresses are also found in Hollola. Their actual purpose is not exactly known, but it is suspected that they were part of a defense chain, a fire notification chain or places of escape for the local population.^[14]

In the Middle Ages, Hollola belonged to the castle county of Häme. The administrators of Hollola, Asikkala and Tennilä were established for the administration purposes of the Finnish monarchs, after which the administrator of Uudenkylä was established. Hollola's administration was divided into the quarters of Artjärvi, Etola, Okerointe and Uskila. ^{[citation needed]}

The development of Hollola's Lahti village into a township and finally into a city began when the Riihimäki–Lahti Railway and the Vesijärvi Railway Station were built on the shore of Lake Vesijärvi in the southern part of Päijänte. Lahti became the hub of Vesijärvi port's water traffic, rail traffic and road traffic. Lahti was separated from Hollola as a city on November 16, 1905.^[15]

Agriculture-dominant Hollola began to industrialize in the late 1960s when the Salpakakkaa conglomeration was zoned in the village of Ala-Okeroinen along the Tampere-Lahden highway, which became Hollola's new municipal center. In recent decades, Hollola has been the fastest growing municipality in Päijät-Häme in terms of population.

In Päijät-Hämee, several municipal merger discussions have been held and related investigations have been carried out. They include the Uusi Kunta project called Vellamo and the unification project of six municipalities: Hollola, Hämeenkoski, Iiti, Kärkölä, Lahti and Nastola. The project was rejected by the Hollola municipal council and the Iiti municipal council.^[16] Hämeenkoski was merged with Hollola at the beginning of 2016.^[17]

Hollola's municipal council has 43 councilors, and it includes seven councilor groups. The Oma council group consists of Kokoumus, SDP, Center, Christian Democrats, Basic Finns, Left Alliance and the Greens. The council group of Basic Finns was formed in the 2008 municipal elections. In the period 2021–2025, the largest council group is the coalition, which holds 11 seats.^[18]

In 2008, the municipal council decided to establish neighborhood councils in each village. The district boundaries of the local councils follow the boundaries of the pupil enrollment areas of the first grades of elementary school, and there are five of them. The councils have been formed in the local service areas of Southern, Central Hollola, Municipal Center, Church Region and Vesikansa.^[19]

At the end of 2011, 4.7 percent of Hollola's jobs were in primary production, 31.2 percent in processing and 61.9 percent in services.^[20] In terms of arable hectares, the fourth largest farm was Finland is in Hollola (as of 2013).^[21]

In 2015, Hollola's largest corporation tax payers were Faba, a service cooperative aimed at cattle productivity, Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery, which operates in the paper machine industry, and Etteplan Design Center.^[22]

Hollola's largest employers in 2007 were:^[23]

• Makron, 170 employees
• Vaahto, 119 employees
• Andritz, 113 employees
• Ramboll Finland
• Sandvik Materials Handling – Roxon Oy, 110 employees
• Plastic processing, 38 employees
• Porkka Finland (Huurre Group), 81 employees
• Rakennusbetoni- ja Elementti Oy, 77 employees
• Etteplan, 73 employees
• SEW Eurodrive, 64 employees
• Suomen Kotikylmiö, 60 employees
• Solmaster, 55 employees
• Naisten Pukutehdas, 48 employees
• Trelmec, 45 employees

In 1956, Hollola had 9,316 inhabitants.[28] After this, the population grew as follows:^{[citation needed]}

• 1962: 9,571
• 1963: 9,650
• 1964: 9,674
• 1965: 9,711
• 1966: 9,826
• 1967: 9,971
• 1968: 10,629
• 1980: 18,733
• 1985: 20,712
• 1990: 22,236
• 1995: 22,629
• 2000: 22,592
• 2005: 23,390
• 2010: 24,106
• 2015: 23,915
• 2020: 23,428

Hollola's nationally significant built cultural environments are Hollola's church village (the church and historic center), the Voistio and the farming landscape of the villages of Vesala, Nokkola, Untila and Utula.^[31]

Hollola's näkkileipä (also called pitoleiva), a type of crisp cracker, originates from Hollola. In the 1980s, the potato dish perunatuvinki, salted Paimela bream, and apple pie were all named Hollola's signature dishes.^[32]

A new library building was completed as the main location of the Hollola Municipal Library in 2004. In addition to the main library, the residents of the municipality are served by the Kalliola Local Library, the Hämeenkoski Library and the Hollola Library Car.^[33]

Hollola's medieval society, Medium Aevum Hollolense, organizes a medieval fair every two years.^[34]

There is a wood species park in Hollola, Hannu's Memorial Forest, in Kukkila. The religious Room of Silence was built in 2003 and inaugurated by Jukka Kuoppamäki.^{[citation needed]}

Hollola's Hämeenkoski and Hyväneula village are strongly featured in the fifth detective story of the Isaksson series, Sieluttomat, written by Markus Ahonen, the former editor-in-chief of Seutuviiko, which preceded the Seutuneloset newspaper group.^{[citation needed]}

Hollola belongs to the parish of St. Ursula. The parish in question is part of the Helsinki Diocese of the Catholic Church.

According to the 2018 regional distribution report, Hollola has the following parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland:^{[citation needed]}

• Hollola parish
• Hämeenkoski chapel congregation

The parish of Hollola belongs to the diocese of Mikkeli. From the beginning of 2017, the congregation has operated in the municipalities of Kuhmointe, Kärkölä and Padasjoki, in addition to Hollola. Hollola's most significant historical attraction is Hollola's medieval stone church with 550 seats. The church belongs to the third generation of Finnish stone churches, which were built between 1480 and 1560. It was completed in its current form between 1495 and 1510: the sacristy was finished in 1495, the church hall in 1500, and the armory after 1505. The stone church is famous for its well-preserved wooden sculptures. Due to lightning striking the roof, the wooden roof structures of the church burned in 1642. The church was completely renovated in 1934–1935.^{[citation needed]}

On the south side of the church is a yellow Empire-style belfry designed by Carl Ludvig Engel and built between 1829 and 1831.^{[citation needed]}

Among the congregations of the Finnish Orthodox Church, the Lahti Orthodox congregation operates in the Hollola area.^[35]

Among the member congregations of the Pentecostal Church of Finland in Hollola, the Hollola Pentecostal Congregation operates.^[36]

• Aarne Alestalo, business manager, trade advisor
• Ville Haapasalo, actor and television host
• Lauri Iisakkila, business manager, trade advisor
• Arttu Lindeman, rap artist and video blogger
• Veikko Linkoneva (1930–2020), company director, industrial advisor
• Toni Piispanen, wheelchair curler
• Mika Pohjonen, opera singer
• Väinö Pätiälä (1884–1957), owner of Laitiala manor, agricultural advisor
• Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, cross-country skier
• Eppu Salminen, actor and host
• Krisse Salminen, actor and stand-up comedian
• Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor
• Petri Saraste, editor
• Jouko Siikaniemi, Member of Parliament
• Väinö Siikaniemi, javelin thrower
• Laura Voutilainen, singer and actress