Muurame is a municipality of Finland, located 16 kilometres (10 mi) south-west of Jyväskylä. Muurame itself is located between two lakes, Lake Päijänne and Lake Muuratjärvi. These two lakes are connected to each other via River Muurame. All together there are 37 lakes in Muurame. Biggest lakes beside Päijänne are Muuratjärvi and Lake Kuusjärvi. River Muurame streams through the population center of Muurame. Muurame was founded in 1921.

The Muurame church is of Alvar Aalto's design, being his first church design to be completed in 1929. It was comprehensively restored in 2016 to its original design.

Name

Muurame is a dialectal word referring to the cloudberry, which also can be seen in the municipal coat of arms. Similar toponyms nearby include Muuratsalo, Muuratjärvi, Muuramenlampi and Muuratharju.

History

Muurame was originally a part of the Jämsä parish. There were also external hunting grounds of Pälkäne in the area. In 1539, there were four farms in Muurame: two of the estates paid taxes to Jämsä, while the other two were taxed from Pälkäne.

Korpilahti, including Muurame, was separated from Jämsä in 1861. Muurame was in turn separated from Korpilahti in 1921. Säynätsalo was separated from Muurame ecclesiastically in 1922 and administratively in 1924.

Notable people

Athletes

• Emilia Nyström, Finnish beach volleyball
• Erika Nyström, Finnish beach volleyball
• Jussi Pesonen, ice hockey player
• Harri Pesonen, ice hockey player
• Mikko Ronkainen, Freestyle skier

Twinnings

• Alatskivi Parish, Estonia
• Vinje, Norway

See also

• Muuratsalo