Rautalampi ( Finnish pronunciation: [ˈrɑu̯tɑˌlɑmpi] ) is a municipality of Finland . It is located in the Northern Savonia region . The municipality has a population of 2,922 (31 October 2024) and covers an area of 761.98 square kilometres (294.20 sq mi) of which 222.99 km (86.10 sq mi) is water. The population density is 5.42 inhabitants per square kilometre (14.0/sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Finnish .
4-430: Neighbouring municipalities are Hankasalmi , Konnevesi , Pieksämäki , Suonenjoki , Tervo and Vesanto . The distance from Rautalampi to Kuopio is about 70 kilometers. The name of the municipality means "iron pond", which is also why the coat of arms of the municipality features the symbol of iron. The village was first mentioned in 1549, when it was a part of the parish ( pitäjä ) of Sysmä . Even though Rautalampi
8-513: The Rautalampi parish happened when Laukaa became separate in 1628, while the last division was the separation of Konnevesi in 1919 (administratively slightly later in 1922). Southern Konnevesi National Park was established in 2014. It is known for its prehistoric rock paintings. The Finnish rock band Grand Merlin, originally from Rautalampi, made a Finnish-languaged cover version of the song " Sweet Home Alabama " in 1983. The song under
12-460: Was a part of Tavastia , most of its settlers were Savonians who came to the area in the 16th century. The oldest documents (1552-1554) on Rautalampi only mention 22 Tavastian settlers in the area, while there were 57 Savonian settlers. The parish ( pitäjä ) of Rautalampi was established in 1561. It was a large parish which included parts of 27 modern municipalities, most of them in the modern region of Central Finland . Administratively Rautalampi
16-458: Was divided into three divisions (despite their amount, called "fourths"): Not too long after the establishment of the parish, most likely in 1563, the divisions were renamed: Keitele became Kymi , Konnevesi became Rautalampi and Saraavesi became Pernasalo . The Kymi fourth was later renamed to Kivijärvi in 1617. The territories of the fourths did not change until the fourths were abolished entirely in 1684. The first ecclesiastical division of
#760239