KirjauduThe Secret Beauty of Pori N 61° 29.524 E 021° 47.896
A long time ago people believed that the city of Pori was ruled by a mighty wizard, Poritar. No one has ever seen her, neither did they know where she actually was. “She’s a shape-shifter”, people whispered. The legend has it that Poritar had concealed a treasure: the secret beauty of Pori. Kings and peasants had searched for it in vain. It was rumored all over the county of Satakunta that only the one who can find the treasure may face the mighty wizard. Many had tried – and failed.
In one perfectly ordinary day, a man called August was walking nearby a magnificent, old mill. Deep in his thoughts, he wandered into a little park and saw an interesting statue. It reminded him of a shuttle used in weaving.
Puuvilla - Pori’s Cotton Factory
In 1898 Porin Puuvillateollisuus Oy (Pori's Cotton Industry Ltd) was found by Efraim Ramberg and a group of local businessmen. Two years later the factory began its operation. August Krook worked as the architect of Puuvilla and his other known works are among others Turku Synagogue (in co-operation with J. Eskil Hindersson), and a Swedish co-educational school in Tampere. Krook’s most important work is said to be the palace of Junnelius that. Today The Neo-Renaissance styled palace operates as the City Hall of Pori.
On May of 1981 Cotton Factory’s weaving mill was destroyed in a factory fire. That fire was Finland’s biggest factory fire and at the time also the most destructive fire in Finnish history after the war. Even though the fire didn’t cause any damage to people working there, the economic damage was over 100 million marks. That sum of money was almost 42 million euros in the year of 2011. The fire of the weaving mill was also one of the reasons why the cotton factory was eventually shut down.
After the fire factory’s operation was gradually cut down and was shut down for good in 1994. Today Pori’s Puuvilla operates as a University Consortium where students of technology, social science, economic science and humanistic subjects study. Puuvilla has also a prosperous cluster of enterprises.
