Wikipedia
Imatra is a town and municipality in eastern Finland, Imatra was founded in 1948 on the territory of three municipalities – Jääski, Ruokolahti and Joutseno. Finland ceded 11% of its territory to the Soviet Union after the Winter War. Jääski lost 85% of its territory and it was decided that a new municipality, Imatra, shall be established on the remaining 15% of Jääski and some areas of Ruokolahti and Joutseno. This is why the Imatra coat of arms has three flashes – in honour of those previous municipalities that granted areas to it. Imatra is dominated by Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River and the border. It gained its municipal charter in 1971.
On the other side of the border, away from the centre of Imatra, lies the Russian town of Svetogorsk. St Petersburg is situated to the southeast, Finland's capital Helsinki is away and Lappeenranta, the nearest Finnish town, is away. Imatra belongs to the administrative province of Southern Finland and the region of South Karelia.
An Art Nouveau or Jugend style castle, currently known as Imatran Valtionhotelli, was built near the rapids in 1903 as a hotel for tourists from the Russian Imperial capital Saint Petersburg.
The main employers are Stora Enso Oyj, Town of Imatra, Ovako Bar Oy Ab and the Finnish Border Guard. As of October 2003, total number of employees was 12,423. As of December 2004, 1,868 employees were employed by the Town of Imatra.
Imatra is the birthplace of National Hockey League players Jussi Markkanen and Petteri Nokelainen.
The current mayor of Imatra is Pertti Lintunen.
In motorsport history, Imatra is best known for its road races (former TT-race) from 1963 to 1986. From 1962 to 1982 it was the home of the Finnish motorcycle Grand Prix.
During the Continuation War, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim met with Adolf Hitler in secrecy near the town for the former's 75th birthday.
Imatra was a cinema in Tampere, Finland, located in Hämeenkatu 12.
In October 23, 1927, the cinema was destroyed in a fire. The cinema was showing Wages of Virtue (1924, featuring Gloria Swanson), and about 200 people were in the audience, about 80 of whom were in the balcony. The fire was caused by ignition of nitrate film in the projection room just before the pause between reels 3 and 4. The 18-year-old projectionist tried to extinguish the burning film, but the hot gases exploded, throwing him out of the room and leaving the door open. The fire spread to the rest of the building within minutes and a large part of the audience was trapped inside. Some people jumped off the balcony and were injured. When the fire brigade arrived, the whole building was already on fire.
20 people died in the fire and 28 were injured; one of the injured died in the hospital. Over 20,000 people were present at the funeral of the victims, and a memorial was unveiled in 1928 in Kalevankangas Cemetery in Tampere.