Kotka (Finnish for eagle) is a town and municipality of Finland.
It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Kymenlaakso region. The municipality has a population of 54,860 (2005) and covers an area of 750 km² of which 478 km² is water. The population density is 204 inhabitants per km².
The municipality is officially unilingually Finnish, although home to a Swedish-speaking minority of a few hundred persons with a Swedish-speaking school.

Langinkoski Imperial Fishing Lodge
A delicate yet forceful environment beside the rapids of the river can be found at
Langinkoski, where the old Imperial Fishing Lodge currently serves as a museum. The place
is unique in that the Fishing Lodge is the only building outside Russia that was once owned
by the Emperor of Russia.
 
Emperor Alexander III of Russia became fascinated with Langinkoski upon visiting the area. In 1889, he had a fishing lodge built at the site, and he and his family visited the lodge during many summers. They really enjoyed a different way of life: there are tales of the Emperor chopping wood while his wife cooked the meals. At Langinkoski, the Emperor of the vast Russia had an opportunity to disengage his thoughts from the gilded rooms of the Winter Palace. The Fishing Lodge, which has been kept intact since the days of the Imperial family, currently serves as a museum. The original furniture is still there. Downstairs are the
living room, kitchen, Empress’ dressing room and Emperor’s study. The bedrooms are situated upstairs. The Fishing Lodge is surrounded by a nature reserve. The various tree species, river beds of varying sizes and of course the rapids are also worth seeing. The yard area houses a small Orthodox chapel built by the monks of the Valamo monastery in the early 19th century.

Museums
The Provincial Museum of Kymenlaakso is closed and will be reopened in the new Museum Centre together with the Maritime Museum of Finland in the spring of 2008 in Kantasatama in Kotka.

Museum Icebreaker Tarmo
The Tarmo is the oldest icebreaker in the world. It was built in Newcastle in Great Britain in 1907 and arrived in Finland in January 1908. In the early years, it assisted 200 to 300 ships annually, but the number grew later. More than 40 people worked on the Tarmo at a time. The Tarmo was in service for the last time in 1970, and it was inaugurated as a museum ship in 1992.
You can learn about life on board an icebreaker by going below deck. The engine room, galley, crew cabins and, of course, the mess have many tales to tell.

Maretarium, the aquarium in Kotka, is a unique attraction: it presents the underwater world of Finnish wildlife. Maretarium presents fish and their environments from the fell brooks of Lapland to the sea area of the Gulf of Finland.
Maretarium has more than 50 indigenous fish species shown in their characteristic habitats in the tanks. There are both familiar fish such as pike and perch and rarer ones like kaife and Siberian sturgeon.
The huge Baltic Sea tank is 7 metres deep and 10 metres in diameter. In it, the visitor can see the cohabitation of crayfish and fish from the bottom sand all the way to the surface waters. That’s marine theatre at its best!
The water in the tanks is pumped from the Gulf of Finland outside Kotka, which is why the annual cycle of fish follows the normal seasons of the year. This can be seen in the tanks: in the autumn, salmon and Arctic char dig their spawning holes, in the winter burbot dance their spawning dance and eelpout give birth to live fry. Spring is the spawning season of the pikeperch, roach and lamprey, and the acanthodians build their nests in the summer.
The aquarium tour is supplemented by changing exhibitions and nature film shows. You can also see a real speciality at Maretarium: a diver feeds fish in the Baltic Sea tank in June and July at 13.00.

Parks
Kotka has many parks which have won several national awards. “A good park is always an experience, and a beautiful green zone purifies the soul,” says the City Gardener of Kotka. And he’s right!
 
The Sapokka Water Garden
has won more park awards than any other park in Finland. It has received awards for its environmental structures, illumination and stone construction.
Sapokka has probably obtained its name from the Russian word “sapok”, meaning a boot. In fact, the park area is around a bay with the shape of a boot. The primary elements of the park are vegetation, water, stone and lighting. Many of the plants have name labels in Finnish, Swedish and Latin. The sea surges into the bay from a 19-metre waterfall, and water also trickles in small brooks. Stone has been used and recycled in many forms, and there is also a small stone exhibition on the upper landing of the waterfall. The illumination adds to the variety of the park throughout the year. Sapokka is worth seeing in all seasons of the year: tens of thousands of bulb flowers bloom there in the spring, rhododendra and azaleas are in turn in the early summer, and summer is the time for roses. In the autumn, the foliage turns even more colourful, and winter freezes the bay white.

Isopuisto Park
The Isopuisto Park is situated around the Orthodox Church. The wooded area was first converted into a park in the 19th century. Nowadays, the church area is decorated by a large group of bulb flowers and perennials which regenerates several times during the growing season. In the summer, the park is an oasis for the townspeople: children`s playgrounds, paddling pool and large grass areas provide an opportunity for playing, games, physical exercise or just enjoying sunshine.

Sibelius Park
The Sibelius Park has been renovated by respecting the original drawings by Paul Olsson from the 1930s. The park is a beautiful and harmonious lifeline amidst the quarters of the square town plan. Statue “Kotkat” (Eagles) by Jussi Mäntynen soars in the middle of the park, covering the surrounding fountain. The park has a playground for children and a place of assembly with stone foot stools. The Market Place of Kotka is also temporarily located close to the Sibelius Park beside Keskuskatu.

Sculpture Park
The renovated Linden Boulevard in Keskuskatu won a national environmental structure award in 2001, when the first sculptures were also unveiled. The determined work continues: in 2004, as many as 3 new sculptures were unveiled in the Sculpture Park, and there’s more to come…

Herb Garden
The Herb Garden is situated in Redoubt Kotka, a small 18th century fortress structure. The destroyed redoubt has been reconstructed, and a garden of more than 100 medicinal and other herbs was established within the walls in 2001. Visually impaired people have especially been taken into account in the design of the garden. The Herb Garden challenges you to use all your senses: the colour palette in the summer also attracts butterflies, and the scent of the herbs is enchanting in calm weather.

Katariinanniemi
The Katariinanniemi Cape offers a magnificent scene of the sea. The shores of the old fortress town are again accessible by all even though the renovation work is still in progress. The cape is intended as an outdoor recreation area, offering a large meadow as well as angling and picnic spots.  The tip of the cape is a place where you can just admire the sea in silence. 

Churches

Orthodox Church of St Nicholas
The present Church of St Nicholas was built between 1799 and 1801 in accordance with drawings by Jakov Perrin, architect of the St Petersburg Admiralty. The columns at the three entrances together with the belfry and dome of this church representing Neoclassicism form an impressive facade. The icons and several objects inside the church are very beautiful. One of the most extraordinary icons depicts St Nicholas in Kotkansaari, with a view of the area of the Ruotsinsalmi naval battle behind him. Outside the church, there is a statue of Maria Purpur, who is reputed to have prevented the destruction of the church during the Crimean War. The church is the oldest building in today’s Kotka.

Church of Kotka
The Church of Kotka, designed by Josef Daniel Stenbäck, was inaugurated in late 1898.  The Neogothic church in the centre of Kotka is high and spacious • its spire soars to 54 metres and the church can seat 1,500 persons.  The beautiful stained glass and rose windows, decorative pillars and skilful wood carvings constitute an impressive interior.  The altarpiece (Wise Men Bowing) was painted by Pekka Halonen. The newest organ completed for the centennial of the church was built after the famous baroque organ in Freiberg Cathedral.

Church of Kymi
The present stone church in Kymi was inaugurated in 1851. This Empire-style church was built after standard drawings by C.L. Engel. The altar houses a facsimile copy of the first Bible in Finnish printed in 1642, the year when the Parish was established. The altarpiece (Jesus in Gethsemane) was painted by Berndt Godenhjelm in 1865. The large candlesticks on the altar were donated by the workers of the Karhula Glass Factory in 1901. The chandeliers are of Bohemian crystal from 1790 and 1814, and the bells were manufactured by the Forsby ironworks in Pernaja in 1736.

Church of Haapasaari
The Church of Haapasaari is the easternmost island church on the Gulf of Finland. The church was completed in 1858, replacing a former prayer house. The church can seat 250 persons. The altarpiece (Jesus and child) was painted by Frans Lehtinen, and the painting beside it was donated by a Captain of a ship whose crew spent the winter on the island in 1863. The wooden crucifix is assumed to be from the old prayer house. The belfry has two bells, the smaller one of which was obtained from a sailing vessel named Jenny which was shipwrecked near Haapasaari in 1870.

Architecture
Architecture in Kotka is multifaceted. Kotka has architectural strata from several eras, which can be seen easily especially in the centre. Still, the buildings adapt to each other naturally. There are many places worth a closer look • for instance around the Church of Kotka. Individual areas can also be found outside the centre of Kotka:

Sunila
The Sunila area was built mainly in the 1930s according to plans by Alvar Aalto, the world-famous architect. Sunila is an internationally important architectural entity where Alvar Aalto’s major work can be witnessed in several residential and business buildings and in the industrial area. The Sunila Pulp Mill, built in 1936, has been rated as the most beautiful industrial building in the world.

Kolmikulma
The Kolmikulma area was created in the present Karhula in the late 19th century. It was then that William Ruth purchased a sawmill there, and an ironworks with residential houses soon emerged around it. An engineering works and a glass factory, among others, were also established in the area.

Tiutinen
A large working population settled on an island east of the centre of Kotka to work at the Halla Sawmill in the late 19th century. Tiutinen with its wooden houses is a densely-built residential area. Tiutinen was badly damaged by bombing raids during the Second World War, but the island has retained its originality even though new buildings have been built there.

Huruksela
Huruksela is an exceptionally well preserved village with wooden buildings in the northern part of Kotka. It forms an entity beside the river Kymijoki with buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries.