Lempäälä () is a municipality in Pirkanmaa, Finland. It is immediately south of Tampere and forms part of the Tampere metropolitan area. Its administrative centre is Lempoinen, also called the Lempäälä church village. The municipality covers , including of water.
Lempäälä developed from a medieval parish. Its Church of St Birgitta was built in stone in the early 16th century, replacing a wooden church, and Lempäälä Canal was constructed between 1867 and 1873. The canal runs through the municipal centre and connects lakes in the Kokemäenjoki water system.
The population was 25,041 at the end of 2025. After the Second World War, evacuees from Sakkola were resettled in the municipality, and Piippo Oy established a factory there. Lempäälä is on the Riihimäki–Tampere railway and is crossed by National Road 3 and National Road 9. Commercial development includes Ideapark in Marjamäki; the 2026 Finnish Housing Fair was held in the Saikka district.
History
Archaeological evidence indicates settlement in the area from the Stone Age. The municipal historical overview identifies Stone Age sites at Haurala, Lempoinen, Lastunen and Aimalankangas, and an Iron Age cemetery at Päivääniemi. In the Middle Ages, the area belonged first to Greater Pirkkala and later to the parish centred on Vesilahti.
The first surviving document referring to Lempäälä as an independent parish is a 1439 settlement agreement connected with David's rebellion, prepared at Kuokkala. A wooden church was built in 1418–1419. It was replaced by the present stone church between 1500 and 1510.
The Church of St Birgitta was built during the Catholic period and dedicated to Bridget of Sweden. It was enlarged into a cruciform church in the 1830s; later interior renovations were undertaken in 1895 and the 1920s. Landholding in the early modern parish included the manors of Hietaniemi, Innilä, Kelho, Kukkola, Kulju, Laikka, Lastunen, Loppi, Sotavalta, Tolvila and Viiala.
The parish priest and member of the Swedish Diet Erik Edner proposed the establishment of Tampere at the Stockholm Diet of 1771–1772; the municipal historical overview credits his initiative with leading to the town's foundation. An earlier plan for a canal at Rikala was abandoned. Construction of the present canal began as famine-relief work in the late 1860s. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency dates the canal to 1867–1873 and records its reconstruction in 1958–1961.
The separation of secular and ecclesiastical local administration under legislation enacted in 1865 led to the establishment of Lempäälä municipality in June 1866. The railway from Helsinki and Hämeenlinna was extended to Tampere in 1876, passing through Lempäälä.
Lempäälä was affected by fighting during the Finnish Civil War in 1918. After the Second World War, between 2,000 and 3,000 evacuees from Sakkola were resettled in the municipality. Piippo Oy, a paper-processing manufacturer, established a plant at Ryynikkä in 1946. Säijä was transferred from Vesilahti to Lempäälä in 1964. At the beginning of 2025, an uninhabited area was transferred from Lempäälä to Tampere.
Geography
Lempäälä borders Akaa, Kangasala, Pirkkala, Tampere, Valkeakoski and Vesilahti. The municipal centre is located among lakes and waterways of the Kokemäenjoki basin. The Lempäälä Canal connects Korteselkä and Kirkkojärvi; it is long and bridges a water-level difference of 2.20–2.40 metres.
The landscape includes lake shores, cultivated land, forest and rocky ridges. The terrain rises towards Vuoresvuori on the Tampere boundary. A former Yoldia Sea shoreline has been identified on its slopes, while an esker enters the municipality from the direction of Valkeakoski. Kuokkalankoski, a rapid beside the canal, forms part of the water route through the central settlement.
Settlements and urban development
Lempoinen is the municipal centre, with the church, canal, railway station and municipal services. The Lempäälä-talo complex, completed in 2020, contains municipal offices and the main library. Hakkari, Kulju and Sääksjärvi are built-up districts north of the centre. Marjamäki contains Ideapark.
In Finnish statistics, a is an urban settlement: a cluster of buildings with at least 200 inhabitants. It is delimited by the Finnish Environment Institute using geographic-information methods based on Statistics Finland's grid data for buildings and population; its boundaries do not follow municipal boundaries. At the end of 2019, 20,861 of Lempäälä's 23,523 residents lived in urban areas, 2,480 lived in rural areas and the location of 182 was unknown. The degree of urbanisation was 91.8%.
The municipality classifies nine areas outside the urban settlements as villages: Ahtiala, Hervannanmaa, Kelho, Kuivaspää, Kulju, Lastunen, Mattila, Nurmi and Säijä.
2026 Finnish Housing Fair
The Finnish Housing Fair was held in Saikka from 10 July to 9 August 2026. The fair included 34 housing and public-building sites; its organiser reported a preliminary attendance of about 87,000 visitors.
Demographics
The population of Lempäälä was 25,041 at the end of 2025. It increased from 14,564 in 1990 to 16,331 in 2000, 20,588 in 2010 and 23,828 in 2020.
In 2025, people aged under 15 accounted for 19.5% of the population and people aged 64 or over for 18.1%. Statistics Finland recorded 24,138 Finnish speakers and 832 foreign-language speakers in Lempäälä at the end of that year.
Government and politics
Lempäälä is governed by a 43-member municipal council. Noora Pajari became municipal manager in February 2025. In the 2025 municipal election, the council seats were distributed as follows:
+ Municipal council, 2025–2029 Party Seats National Coalition Party 12 Social Democratic Party of Finland 10 Centre Party 8 Green League 4 Finns Party 4 Left Alliance 3 Christian Democrats 2
In the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, the largest shares of the vote in Lempäälä were received by the National Coalition Party (26.0%), the Finns Party (22.0%) and the Social Democratic Party (21.8%).
The municipality lists partnership relationships with Ulricehamn in Sweden, Øvre Eiker in Norway, Tapolca in Hungary, Castiglione del Lago in Italy and Upplands-Bro in Sweden.
Economy
Lempäälä's postwar industrial development included Piippo Oy's paper-processing factory at Ryynikkä, established in 1946. A 2026 Business Tampere report, using a nowcast estimate for 2024, recorded 7,911 jobs in Lempäälä and 11,577 employed residents. It calculated workplace self-sufficiency at 68.3%; Statistics Finland defines this as the ratio between people working in an area and the employed labour force resident there.
Marjamäki contains Ideapark, which opened in 2006. In a 2019 comparison, Yle reported that Ideapark had more than of leasable floor area and was then Finland's largest shopping centre by that measure.
In November 2025, the Finnish Government decided that a closed prison for Pirkanmaa would be built on the Hulikankulma site in Lempäälä. The first phase is planned to provide about 100 places, with opening expected in 2031–2033.
Transport
Lempäälä is crossed by National Road 3, between Helsinki and Tampere, and National Road 9, between Turku and Tampere. The Riihimäki–Tampere railway runs through the municipality. Lempäälä railway station is near the church village and is served by VR passenger trains.
Bus services are part of the Nysse Tampere regional public-transport system. In May 2025, the municipal committee released a draft local detailed plan intended to permit a new station at Sääksjärvi. The municipality also began preliminary planning for the station with the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency and the Tampere city region.
The canal remains available for navigation during its operating season. It is a self-service canal, subject to water-regulation flows and seasonal opening hours.
Culture and heritage
The Church of St Birgitta is the main church of Lempäälä Parish. In addition to services, it is used for concerts and other parish events. The nearby canal is part of the historic waterway between the lakes.
Kuokkala Museum Trail, about from the municipal centre, is a museum complex jointly maintained by the municipality and Lempäälä-Seura. Seven museums occupy former local buildings, including a village shop, smithy, barber's shop, shoemaker's workshop and a museum concerning Sakkola's displaced parish community.
Pirunlinna is an Iron Age hillfort and Stone Age find site in the municipality. The Finnish Heritage Agency's archaeological register identifies stone ramparts around its summit and records Neolithic flint arrowheads found in a cave-like formation below it. The Birgitan polku outdoor route passes through Lempäälä and neighbouring municipalities.
The local speech belongs to the Tavastian dialects. Uutispuuro and sweet syrup cakes have been recorded as Lempäälä's traditional parish foods. Puntala-rock is a punk music festival held at Puntala campsite.
Sport
Lempäälän Kisa's ice-hockey representative team, LeKi, received a licence for the Suomi-sarja for the 2026–27 season. Football clubs based in the municipality include LeKi-futis and Sääksjärven Loiske. Lempo-Volley competes in the Finnish men's First Division.
Notable people
Marko Anttila (born 1985), ice-hockey player and Olympic champion, born in Lempäälä. Jenni Hiirikoski (born 1987), ice-hockey player whose hometown is Lempäälä. Kustaa Tapola (1895–1971), infantry general and Mannerheim Cross recipient, the son of a Lempäälä farmer.
References
Further reading
External links
Municipality of Lempäälä