Asikkala, Tavastia Province, Finland

🇫🇮 Asikkala is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Vääksy, at the shores of the Lake Päijänne. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. Asikkala's neighboring municipalities are Hämeenlinna, Heinola, Hollola, Lahti, Padasjoki and Sysmä. The municipality is unilingually Finnish, by law since 1996.

History The oldest prehistoric objects discovered in Asikkala, primarily tools, are presumed to date back to approximately 3000 BCE. The island of Kotasaari in the village of Kalkkinen has been a significant source of finds as well; the settlement on the island dates back to the Stone Age. In the Middle Age, the hunters populating the area of Asikkala made excursions towards the north on the Päijänne. The oldest villages in the municipality are presumed to be Kalkkinen as well as Anianpelto, the former of which also housed the largest estate in the area, known as Iisakkila or Kalkkinen.

Asikkala is mentioned in writing for the first time in a document concerning a border dispute with Sysmä in 1443. It is mentioned in 1445 as an administrative parish, whose subordinates in taxation included the villages of Viitaila, Asikkala and Urajärvi, and later Ruuhijärvi in modern-day Nastola. In the early 1600s, Asikkala became an independent chapel parish from the mother parish of Hollola.

Villages In 1967, Asikkala had 24 legally recognised villages (henkikirjakylät): • Anianpelto • Asikkala • Hillilä • Iso-Äiniö • Joenniemi • Kalkkinen • Keltaniemi • Kopsuo • Kurhila • Muikkula • Myllykselä • Paakkola • Pulkkila • Pätiälä • Reivilä • Riihilahti • Salo • Särkijärvi • Urajärvi • Vehkoo • Vesivehmaa • Viitaila • Vähimaa • Vähä-Äiniö.

Economy In 2018, 9.6% of the workforce of Asikkala worked in primary production (agriculture, forestry and fishing), 28.7% in secondary production (e.g. manufacturing, construction and infrastructure), and 58.6% in services. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 9.2%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 37.4%.

largest employers The ten largest employers in Asikkala in 2019 were as follows: 1 Municipality of Asikkala; 2 Päijät-Häme Health Care Municipal Consortium; 3 JELD-WEN Suomi Oy; 4 Rapala VMC Oyj; 5 Salpaus Further Education; 6 Regional Council of Päijät-Häme; 7 Viipurilainen Kotileipomo Oy; 8 Urajärven Metalli Oy; 9 Parish of Asikkala; 10 Osuuskauppa Hämeenmaa.

Food In the 1980s, Asikkala's traditional parish dishes were salmon soup, rieskas made barley, and potato egg butter, as well as berry milk and sahti.

Päijänne Tavastia Aviation Museum Päijänne Tavastia Aviation Museum (Finnish: Päijät-Hämeen ilmailumuseo) is an aviation museum in Asikkala, near Lahti, Finland. It opened in its current form on 19 May 2006. The museum was previously known as Vesivehmaan varastohalli (the Vesivehmaa storage hall).

The museum displays mainly aircraft of the Finnish Air Force. In 1948, the Finnish Air Force began separating and storing some of the aircraft that had been taken out of service. The aircraft were stored in hangar 4 on former World War II air force base of Vesivehmaa (presently known as Lahti-Vesivehmaa airport, EFLA). They also had a large number of older aircraft in storage. By the end of the 1940s, many of the World War II-era aircraft were sold as scrap. During the late 1970s the aircraft were moved to their current location in hangar 1.

The museum is run by "Lahden ilmasilta" (LIS), a guild association, which was founded on 15 November 1962. The association wanted to preserve the aircraft that remained, which numbered about 20. The museum has about 2,000 visitors per year.